Aaron David Miller, former adviser to countless US administrations, issues the following comments on the Israel/Palestine conflict:
This (a two-state solution) is not going to last for 8 years. The facts on the ground, the facts in people’s minds, the hopelessness, the despair, the confusion of the politics on each side will, in my judgment, over the next 4 to 8 years make a two-state solution almost impossible. So it’s either going to happen with this administration or its not going to happen. And that makes this period truly consequential for the administration and for Arabs and Israelis…
What is relevant is whether or not a president can craft a national narrative on the Arab-Israeli issue that advances America’s national interest. If a president can do this and is smart, tough and fair about how he goes about it, then it seems to me the pro-Israel community, whether they want to acknowledge it or not, will come along, like the vast majority of other people who live in this country and supported the president…
Because he [Obama] is so persuaded that he is, in fact, a supporter of the State of Israel, and that he does understand them intellectually,… that the emotive part of this, of what is required under these circumstances, simply got lost.… He now has created a problem for himself which is going to have to be fixed, and the very fact that he’s going to have to fix this is not good for American interests or American credibility. But there’s no question that he’s created a problem. Toughness is absolutely essential and so is the quality of reassurance.