The key is for the U.S. to send an unambiguous signal that it wants to see a cooling-off period, ... Especially until it is clear what kind of policies, what kind of government Sharon will be able to put together.
I think their basic view is, 'When you, the Palestinians, show that you're doing it, we'll get involved. If not we're not going to invest a lot of political capital.' I think that is the message.
US efforts between now and March may have to be low profile, but Washington need not be dormant.
It's clearly offensive when the president of Israel makes a criticism and instead of dealing with the essence of the criticism, Netanyahu turns it around and basically questions the motives and patriotism of the president.
I don't see how the Israeli people are served by another house here, another house there, when the big picture is to create a partnership with the Palestinians.
If his team is not on board, how is the country going to be on board?
He wants to demonstrate that under his leadership there will be no compromises over Jerusalem. If the Palestinians choose to confront him, he will use them essentially as props to say, like his campaign slogan, that he's a 'strong leader for a strong nation,'.
He has basically got to freeze the peace process to woo back alienated right-wing voters.
The public is jaded. They think that on the eve of the elections (Netanyahu) is doing things just to capture headlines.
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