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Report: Obama mulls new peace plan
[Ma'an] Despite turbulence in US-Israel relations, President Barack Obama is "seriously considering" proposing a new Mideast peace plan, two top administration officials told a US newspaper.
I wouldn't be surprised if he had problems with girls in his youth. He seems to have no concept of the word 'No' when said by the object of his attention.
"Everyone knows the basic outlines of a peace deal," said one of the senior officials quoted in a Wednesday report in the Washington Post, citing the agreement that was nearly reached at Camp David in 2000 and in subsequent negotiations.

He said an American plan, if launched, would build upon past progress on such issues as borders, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. The second senior official said that "90 percent of the map would look the same" as what has been agreed in previous bargaining, the US daily reported.

The White House is considering detailed interagency talks to frame the strategy and form a political consensus for it, the newspaper quoted the first official as saying. The second official likened the process to the review that produced Obama's strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He said the administration could formally launch the Middle East initiative by this fall, according to the report.

On Sunday, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said the lack of clarity surrounding US Middle East envoy George Mitchell's next visit to the region could be due to tense relations between Israel and the US over Israel's refusal to halt settlement activities.

Meanwhile, Israel's envoy to the US denied reports of tensions between the two allies. In a television interview with the US news network CNN, Ambassador Michael Oren said Sunday that relations were "great" between Israel and the Americans despite strains in recent weeks.

America's main pro-Israel lobby group is mobilizing members of the US Congress to pressure the White House over its confrontation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, news reports said Thursday.

The Guardian newspaper reported that the move, by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), appears aimed at exploiting differences within the Obama administration as it decides how to use the crisis around settlement building in Jerusalem to press Israel toward concessions to kickstart peace negotiations.

AIPAC has persuaded more than three-quarters of the members of the US House of Representatives to sign a letter calling for an end to public criticism of Israel and urging the US to "reinforce" its relationship with Israel, The Guardian reported.
Posted by: Fred 2010-04-08
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=294205