WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President
Barack Obama dispatches his vice president to the Middle East on Sunday
to try to build support for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
despite deep skepticism on both sides.
Joe Biden will meet Israeli, Palestinian,
Egyptian and Jordanian leaders starting on Monday, but a main component
of his trip will be public diplomacy — reassuring anxious Israelis
about Obama’s commitment to their security while explaining why they
should be willing to make concessions for peacemaking.
Biden, who will be the most senior American
official to visit Israel since Obama came to office in January 2009,
faces a tough sell, Israeli officials and analysts say.
Obama may enjoy superstar status in other
parts of the world, but not in Israel.
Many
Israelis are distrustful of the president’s outreach to the Muslim
world, a priority he highlighted with high-profile visits to Egypt and
Saudi Arabia, and, later this month, to Indonesia.
“If Israel is supposed to make sacrifices
for a peace deal, the Israeli public has to be convince… >>>
