Obama and the Middle East, Round Two

Abstract

After years of diplomatic inertia, the seemingly endless Palestinian-Israeli “peace process” was given a new lease on life by the Obama Administration in the summer of 2013. Despite Washington’s expressed desire during Obama’s first term to “pivot” U.S. foreign policy toward Asia, the revived peace process, along with the Syrian crisis, Iran, and the “Arab Spring” combined to keep Washington focused on its longstanding traditional concerns in the Middle East. Unlike earlier periods, however, American public opinion today may be ready to support a president who seeks to salvage the goal of peace predicated on a two-state solution by directly challenging Israel’s policy of promoting increased Jewish settlement construction on occupied Arab lands.