THE PRIZE CAME TOO LATE, NOT TOO SOON:

Growing Rifts, Abbas's Crisis Dim Hope for Talks (Howard Schneider, 10/15/09, Washington Post)

Obama named Mitchell as his peace envoy just one day after taking office in an effort to demonstrate to Arabs and Europeans that he was deeply invested in achieving a peace deal. Mitchell was given instructions to set the stage for talks by negotiating a package deal that included an Israeli settlement freeze and incremental steps by Arab states toward normalization of relations with Israel.

But the settlement push backfired. It raised hopes among Palestinians, who began to demand nothing less than a full freeze, and led to severe tensions in U.S.-Israeli relations. Obama abruptly shifted course last month at the three-way meeting, calling for immediate talks, but it has since become apparent that both sides were dug in.

"The peace process, by all indications, appears to be at an impasse," Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Wednesday during a two-hour news conference in which he acknowledged that Abbas had been put in a position of "major weakness" because of decisions made in consultation with the United States.

The practice of his presidency has been fatal to the promise of his candidacy.

You can't blame the Palestinians for perceiving that he was on their side against Israel. But what they, and he, forgot is that he governs a pro-Israel electorate. He just doesn't matter.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 17, 2009 6:55 AM