Word: easting
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...Although the U.S. has routinely opposed Israeli construction in East Jerusalem - President Bush's Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it "unhelpful" - Netanyahu appears to be betting that by very publicly challenging Obama on Jerusalem, he can rally support from those Jewish leaders in the U.S. who have lately expressed disquiet over the President's Middle East policies, and also from Christian conservative supporters of Israel. And the Israelis are plainly looking to make a campaign of it, with the mayor of Jerusalem being dispatched to the U.S. to rally opposition to the Administration's position on the city. (Read...
...Refusing to even discuss East Jerusalem's status raises the ante, providing further reason for skepticism among Arabs that Netanyahu is serious about a two-state solution. The Obama Administration has warned Israel not to proceed with a residential project in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, noting that the U.S. views such construction in the same light as settlement expansion. But while the Netanyahu government may be willing to dismantle some of the settlement outposts built without permission in the West Bank (they're usually rebuilt by settlers within days), the Prime Minister made clear on Sunday that...
...example of the growing instability along Tajikistan's 830-mile (1,335 km) border with Afghanistan. Two weeks ago, members of a narcotics-smuggling ring - which included a former Tajik government minister and rebel commander - were killed after a skirmish with security forces in the Tavildara Valley, a strategic east-west transit route through Tajikistan and an Islamic stronghold opposed to the government. "The group included several Russian citizens ... aiming to transport large amounts of money through Tajikistan to support terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan," the government told the press, claiming that the ring was part of an "international...
...state solution. Populations on both sides of the divide have lost faith in the concept, but while Israelis are largely content to live with the status quo, Palestinians are not - and they are losing faith in the path of negotiations. The expansion of the Israeli presence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in recent years has eroded faith in the prospects for a territorially viable Palestinian state; the idea of resolving the conflict on the basis of creating two states - a concept that entered the political mainstream almost two decades ago - may have reached its expiration date...
...questions of where to draw borders between Israel and a state of Palestine, the terms of Palestinian sovereignty, how to share Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees. But both sides have been through such a process before and failed to conclude a deal. For many Middle East watchers, the key question will be whether Obama sets a deadline for such talks. And what it plans to do if, as seems quite possible if not probable, the two sides fail to reach agreement...