In terms of trying to restart the peace process for president obama? do you think it s a core problem right now? well, we are at a stage where they are only talking about proximity talks and indirect talks. there is a long way to go before you get to anything substantive. i think the issue also reflects the broader problem for the administration throughout the region. they were hoping they could get something on arab israeli in order to jump-start other issues, whether it was getting syria onboard and drawing it further away from iran, and they were hoping iran would have a diplomatic out reach and come to the table and talk about the controversial nuclear program. and on each of the issues the administration has fallen short and discovered the tough realities of dealing with the middle east. thei it s important in terms of getting something going. this set back and it hurts the
The u.s. s relationship, and that played out in jerusalem this week. there will be tensions in the relationship, but this president needs israeli cooperation on iran. so if you are counting on an israeli-american war, you will not find it. but there is no question we are in for serious bumps down the road. where do you think israel is at in terms of why this happened, robin? we don t know the inside working within the government but there is speculation this happened as a result of the shaus party not telling the prime minister about the timing of this, but the reality is timing. the prime minister did not refute the commitment to build new housing in jerusalem, which is a contention issue.