Turmoil Of Arab Spring, Rise In Number Of Israeli Settlers Make For Worse Odds For Peace Deal

[Purveyor]

JERUSALEM - The same negotiators, the same issues, a familiar venue: The sense of deja vu is overwhelming as Israelis and Palestinians start Wednesday on their third attempt in 13 years to draw a border between them.

But they face even longer odds than in the last round, which ended in 2008.

Since then, at least 40,000 more Israelis have settled in areas the Palestinians want for a state, making it even harder to partition the land. The chaos of the Arab Spring has bolstered Israeli demands for ironclad security guarantees, such as troop deployments along Palestine's future border, widening a dispute that seemed near resolution five years ago.

The talks come after months of prodding by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who made six visits to the region since taking office in his bid to bring together Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. together

Despite U.S. cheerleading, expectations have been low on both sides. Ahead of Wednesday's talks at Jerusalem's King David Hotel, the atmosphere soured further after Israel said in a series of announcements in the past week that it is advancing plans for more than 3,000 new homes for Jews in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

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http://www.windsorstar.com/news/world/Turmoil+Arab+Spring+rise+number+Israeli+settlers+make+worse/8783988/story.html

[malaise]

1. "...have settled in areas the Palestinians want for a state..." - WTF???

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!