Israel has a reputation for maintaining a competent embassy with a large and dedicated staff in Washington, DC. Have they all got flu, or something?

I just thought that a faithful rendition of the Israeli government's view on the Middle East ought to come from someone who cashes an official Israeli paycheck. It's a question of seemliness more than anything else; the Israeli government has its opinions and interests, and a perfect right to them both, but it looks just peculiar for Americans to tie themselves in knots trying to express Israeli preferences as if making them American government policy made sense for the United States.

It certainly did when George Bush was President. At least Mr. Rosen doesn't cash an official American paycheck.

Steve Rosen's job, as an ex employee of AIPAC and a spy for Israel (all LEGAL spying, in his opinion, although his defense, a greymail defense, relies upon a threat of damaging US security so much during his court case, that the prosecution must drop charges in order to safeguard US security) is to slow down progress of any two state solution in order to allow the settlers to steal the maximum amount of land possible, and possibly scuttle a Palestinian state forever.

Is this article anything but a pathetically transparent attempt to slow things down? Even after we were attacked on 9/11 by people screaming about our complicity in crimes against the Palestinian people? Steve Rosen could care less about the 2 state solution, and he could care less about the safety of the US, or it's people. He could care less about the safety of the average Israeli citizen or Palestinian.

Steve Rosen is working for ultra right wing, ultra nationalist faction in Israel, and no one else, and he would see a LOT damage done to the US, to Israel, and to the Palestinian state, and a LOT of people suffer and die, before he would give up his goals.

I never understood this "force both sides to the table" mentality.

The United States does not do this with any other conflict, why is this one so special?

Most major breakthroughs in the Israeli peace process happened when both sides wanted them to and when America was minimally involved.

When the Israelis and Palestinians want to make a deal, any kind of a deal, they will seek us out, not the other way around. In the mean time we have our own issues to deal with.

Whatever mistakes Rosen may have made, at least he isn't lobbying for the Palestinian leadership and their allies.

You do know the PLO was indicted by the US government for the murder of US diplomats?

You might say Israel isn't a nice country, but the Palestinians have never been friends of the USA and we don't owe them anything.

As far as negotiations go, USA is stunted. Palestinians have no reason to "negotiate" when they can depend on Obama to squeeze unilateral concessions out of Israel. And even if Palestinians wanted to negotiate, any leader that remotely tried to approach the table in a professional, polite, cordial fashion with no reactionary terrorist victimhood BS would be assassinated as a collaborator.

The Palestinians have no incentive to negotiate. West Bank economy is growing at an average 900% per year. Ramallah is a booming city. PLO leaders are working with the IDF to allow Israeli tourists back into Arab cities to shop and contribute to the Palestinian economy.

Violence is down considerably, which is why the media is butt hurt and is forced to pimp bogus stories about Israelis taking pics of Palestinian prisoners like it's the end of the world.

Why change now? Israel and the Palestinians seem to get along just fine when they don't have foreigners meddling in their affairs. Pallies got the EU and Israel has the USA.

If Americans want to pay the price for peace, then yes - we can impose a resolution. But that means we send troops, we risk our lives. We cannot tell Israel how to write its defense policy, especially when it receives an average of 30 rockets a week, 2 suicide bomb plots foiled per month, and daily border infiltrations - as well as the occasional IED that must be disarmed by lunch time.

"Netanyahu is coming to the talks with ideas that can measurably improve the lives of the Palestinian people and move them toward their objective of a sovereign Palestinian state with territorial contiguity."

Since you seem to think you're talking from a balanced point of view (and I'm going to ignore the AIPAC reference in your footnote to believe that), perhaps you could inform us about how Cast Lead, the flotilla fiasco and settlement building influence the credibility of this statement?

You seem to imply that it's the Israeli government who's trying to take the initiative and Abbas who's stalling peace, when you completely fail to mention the three largest events in the region in the last 18 months, all of which have ended with at least some form of international condemnation heaped on Israel's head, among other parties. I know downplaying these events is a common tactic, but leaving them out completely?

This isn't journalism you're doing, Mr. Rosen. feels more like propaganda. Stop it.

If there as ever a single day where the Palestinian Authority has not incited violence in some way, then maybe there would be some hope. There is someone on PA TV telling Palestinians to kill Jews every day. That is step one in the roadmap that has never been met. The reason the PA can't make peace is that their own people would revolt and kill them for making peace with the group they have been brainwashed into thinking are only worthy of death. And that is the PA let alone Hamas whose very existance precludes peace.

As Israelis know all too well that Steven J. Rosen does not, agreements made today can be broken tomorrow. So Bush’s gift to Obama is just a mirage.

But since Mr. Rosen is talking about Bush’s gift to Obama, how about Bush’s curse to Obama of continuing Taliban insurgency?

There are three Bush blunders that are largely responsible for the failure of US mission and Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan.

First, during the siege of Kunduz in November 2001, the Bush administration allowed Pakistan to spirit away by airlift hundreds, if not thousands, of Taliban operatives cornered by the advancing Northern Alliance in Kunduz. Pakistan relocated those Taliban cadres including Mullah Mohammed Omar in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan from where Mullah Omar’s QST has been planning raids in Afghanistan ever since.

Second, in order to chase Saddam’s imaginary WMDs, Bush administration allocated huge military resources to Iraq, thereby denying Afghanistan sufficient troops to provide security against Taliban.

Third, Bush recruited Musharraf’s Pakistan to fight the very terrorist threat that Pakistan itself created. So Musharraf played duplicitous game of running with the hare while hunting with the hounds. While capturing and killing some Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders based on US intelligence, Musharraf continued to shelter, protect and support Mullah Mohammed Omar’s Quetta Shura Taliban in Quetta, provincial capital of Baluchistan and Haqqani network in North Waziristan.

Bush’s mollycoddling of Pakistan, the country that fuels the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan has prolonged US agony and tired American people of this never-ending Afghan war.

And Bush consciously decided to finance his wars with credit card while giving huge tax cuts to his business buddies. This converted Clinton era 200 billion dollar budget surpluses to 400 billion dollar Bush budget deficits. Republican jihad against government regulations led to financial meltdown that is going to take more than two years to heal no matter how Perry Bacon sugarcoats Bush’s record.

Obama’s mistake is continuing Bush’s mollycoddling of Pakistan and that will be Obama‘s undoing.

Reading the FP’s comment section on subjects, even remotely connected with Israel, often is an ordeal. Both sides, pro Palestinian and pro Israel can’t stop repeating the same old clichés about what really happened, who caused it, who is to blame, and who has to pay. All the time it is clear to the casual reader they will never be able to convince one another. They both wear different coloured glasses, so they both see a different reality.

We have a continuing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians (That is at least the name those millions of people who live in the West bank and the Gaza strip give themselves. And that is the only thing that should count) This conflict has also thoroughly infected in the past six decades the relations between the Arab (Muslim) world and the West, and with damaging effects on both sides. Anyone the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ debate?
What is important now, is to end this terrible conflict.

First we have the established state of Israel. That is fact that will not going away, and which in addition has the strongest army in the Middle East plus the full support of the world’s only remaining Superpower.

Second we have the people of the West bank and Gaza who want a state of their own. They, and their Arabian backers have since some time concluded that state of Israel will never disappear, and that the only viable option is to contend themselves with the parts of the Mandate of Palestine that stayed outside of Israel with the 1949 cease-fire line.
However Israel has complicated a solution along this line by unilaterally annexing East Jerusalem and stimulating Israeli settlement building beyond the 1949, or Green line. This certainly is a great obstacle, but starting from the Green line this could be resolved with small, equal and mutual agreed ‘land swaps’.

The Obama administration should be praised for its effort to get the conflict resolved. But I think Mr Rosen has a point in that, considering the vivid memories and scars of both parties in this bitter conflict, a forced solution could backfire. His proposal to phase this process might work. It gives both sides a chance to lower their suspicion of hidden agenda’s on the other side and develop a mutual trust to work out an acceptable compromise. But in the end it cannot be done without sacrificing some ‘Holy Ground’ on both sides.

Some people wrote Mr Rosen cannot be trusted because he worked for APAIC. That really is nonsense. No matter what background or sympathies an author or commentator has, the only two things that count in an argumentation are: the mentioned facts must be correct, complete and relevant. The applied reasoning must be adequately based on these facts. Attacks ad hominem are a diversionary tactic, and are becoming a plaque in present-day debates.

the Israeli Settlementistas don't want peace and Hamas doesn't want peace and Hezbollah doesn't want peace so, this thing shouldn't be too hard to scuttle.

Its an immensley difficult problem but not an impossible one. If you look at Ireland it also looked hopeless althoughthe British government got there eventually. Tony Blair knows how to fight the prejeduices and get over the single mindness of each party so Obama should take council from some of that British team. One thing is for certain, the whole process will be very difficult and will suffer many,many set backs.

The United States may succeed in sitting the'sraelis and Palestinians down for direct talks, but its unlikely the negotiations will go far. Its time for a more creative approach -- one that picks up where George W. Bush left off is great column and I say Steven J. Rosen made few really good statements. "President Barack Obama's Middle East policy. That'sn't necessarily a good thing. The'sraeli public doesn't trust him and will be looking for signals of his intentions. If he doesn't restore confidence in the role of the United States, it's hard to see how American mediation can succeed." We have to know that bushs gift to obama is a genuinely difficult issue and ought to be dealt with as such. I am generally interested in hair vitamins and dental health insurance, I just needed to express that I liked the reflection in the bushs gift to obama news article.

The Israeli Spy, Steve Rosen, when not stealing classified intel from our government in an effort to foment war against Iran, is the head cheer leader for stretching the settlements out into infinity. sesli sohbet I hope that is clear enough for you, as just about every single other person of any real consequence gets it, and hopefully no one from the Obama administration, or anyone else, would be foolish enough to take advice of any type from Steve Rosen, a spy and enemy of the US