Netanyahu meeting with Obama decides Mid-East’s future, says Abdullah

Is this fair, anyone???



Netanyahu meeting with Obama decides Mid-East’s future, says Abdullah


President Obama’s critical meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu next week has become the acid test for the Administration’s commitment to peace in the Middle East, King Abdullah of Jordan said yesterday.

The monarch does not conceal his feelings about the Israeli leader. He described their last encounter – 10 years ago when he had just come to the throne – as the “least pleasant” of his reign. But he, and President Mubarak of Egypt, are expected to meet the Israeli leader before his trip to Washington, where the future course of the region could be decided.

The King said that he was prepared to believe what Israelis have told him — that a right-wing Government in Israel is better able to deliver peace than the Left.

“All eyes will be looking to Washington,” he said. “If there are no clear signals and no clear directives to all of us, there will be a feeling that this is just another American Government that is going to let us all down.”

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6261925.ece

It's an important meeting. It may or may not amount to much in the long run.

much, we have miles to go. It could be a first step, but please don't put the onus on one man.

the first meeting between Bibi and Barack is important but certainly not the do all end all IMO Bibi is the type who the that is demanded the more he will refuse

perhaps for years to come.

Will America now genuinely pursue a just and lasting peace or will it be the lip service game as usual?

I doubt that anything President Obama says will directly and fundamentally cause Israel to change policy and direction in the immediate future. But if the message comes off loud and clear that from now on America is serious, the entire tone of future prospects for a just peace and the entire tone of America's relationship with the entire region could very will be a determining factor for the future.

I doubt very much that there will be a settlement in the next few years regardless who says what. But the question of whether or not America will be on the side of historical progress or on the side thwarting history and progress toward a Middle East at peace and on good terms with America and the West might be in part determined by the tone of the President's public position.