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Sunday, January 2, 2011
Obama team launches regime change project on pages of Haaretz? U.S. furious at Barak for exaggerating his role in peace process

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

Interesting combination:

#1. Aluf Benn: COS Ashkenazi to launch political career advocating
withdrawal from Golan
Haaretz 31.12.2010
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=50425
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/ashkenazi-s-ladder-to-the-top-1.334468

#2. Al Rai (Kuwait): Syrian - Israeli peace initiative launched by USA, PM
Netanyahu assigns DM Barak to follow up
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=50424
http://www.alraimedia.com/Alrai/Article.aspx?id=247520&date=01012011

and for an extra spin:

#3. President Shimon Peres must decide if he's ready to do what he does
best - present his vision of the future in order to fend off disaster.
Yossi Verter , Haaretz 31.12.2010
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/as-netanyahu-s-coalition-struggles-peres-may-need-to-step-in-1.334469

followed on Sunday by the item below]

U.S. furious at Barak for exaggerating his role in peace process
Sources tell Haaretz that U.S. officials feel they were misled by Ehud Barak
about his ability to persuade PM Netanyahu regarding the peace process.
By Barak Ravid Haaretz Latest update 01:25 02.01.11
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-furious-at-barak-for-exaggerating-his-role-in-peace-process-1.334697

The U.S. administration is furious with Defense Minister Ehud Barak over the
stalled peace talks, sources have told Haaretz. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and President Barack Obama's senior advisers say that for more than
a year and a half Barak misled them about his persuasive powers with Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the peace process.

The Americans will continue working with Barak on security issues, but he
will no longer receive special treatment.

A senior Israeli official, who requested anonymity, told Haaretz about his
recent hour-long meeting with a senior U.S. official who detailed the
reasons Clinton and the White House are so disappointed with Barak.

The accusations were confirmed over the past few days by four other sources
close to the situation, all of whom requested anonymity.

The Israeli official said his U.S. interlocutor stressed that the
infuriation with Barak reached as high as Obama and Clinton.

This came after Barak reached an understanding with Washington over
extending the settlement construction freeze by three months in exchange for
a written pledge of diplomatic and military guarantees in September.

Barak promised that Netanyahu would approve the deal, but did not deliver
the goods.

"We put all our money on him a year and a half ago," the Israeli official
quoted his U.S. colleague as saying. "The entire administration bet on Barak
because he said he could nudge Netanyahu toward an agreement with the
Palestinians, but he deceived us and led us down the garden path."

According to the U.S. official, as soon as Netanyahu formed his government,
the White House decided to open all its doors to Barak, and Obama took the
unusual step of meeting with him there.

"He charmed us with his intelligent analyses; the president listened to
Barak like a student with his teacher and trusted him, but he didn't meet
any of his promises over the peace process and the building freeze," the
official told the Israeli.

The latter said he left the meeting "in shock .... I almost burst into
tears." Barak's last visit to Washington, two weeks ago, was depicted as the
watershed in Barak-Washington ties. The brevity of Clinton's meeting with
him at the Saban Forum last month - 15 minutes - was intended to signal
Barak's loss in status.

The U.S. official said Barak's disappointing behavior evoked a sense of deja
vu in Washington, especially at the State Department, recalling his failures
as prime minister in the peace talks at Shepherdstown and Camp David.

Barak's office said in a statement on Saturday that he maintains continuous
ties at the top of the U.S. administration, detailing Barak's meetings with
Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

According to the statement, the accusations in the report were not raised in
any of these meetings, nor did they appear in reports by diplomatic sources.

"Defense Minister Barak is punctilious about presenting situations
accurately, without beautifying the facts," the statement said.

Washington is expected to resume its efforts this week to restart the peace
process, but its expectations are low. The administration is not walking
away only because of its fear of renewed violence that would suck in the
United States.

"We lost our hope in this coalition," the U.S. official told the Israeli.
"We simply have no more expectations."

Both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are firmly entrenched
in their positions, and a renewal of direct talks is not on the horizon.

The Palestinians are busy with their campaign against the settlements and
for winning recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.

This week they will renew efforts to push through a UN Security Council
resolution denouncing the settlements.

Netanyahu, for his part, continues to blame the Palestinians for the
paralyzed peace process.

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