WHILE HARDLY KNOWN FOR THEIR POLITICAL SAVVY...:

Palestinians accuse U.S. of killing peace prospects (Jeffrey Heller, 11/01/09, Reuters)

Pointing an accusing finger at the United States, the Palestinians on Sunday said Washington's backing for Israeli refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion had killed any hope of reviving peace negotiations soon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, buoyed by new-found support from the Obama administration, urged the Palestinians to "get a grip" and drop their settlement freeze precondition for restarting talks suspended since December.

On a one-day Middle East visit on Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Israel's view that settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank should not be a bar to resuming negotiations -- contradicting the Palestinian position.

...even the Palestinians should have known better than to count on the UR to stand his ground.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 1, 2009 10:37 AM