Two State Solution for Mideast Peace

U.S. official: Two-state solution reduces Iran threat JTA — Working toward a two-state solution can reduce the existential threat of Iran, an Obama administration official said. "We understand Israel's preoccupation with Iran as an existential threat. We agree with that," National Security Adviser James Jones said Sunday morning on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "And by the same token, there are a lot of things that you can do to diminish that existential threat by working hard towards achieving a two-state solution. This is a very strategic issue." click to read complete article

King Abdullah of Jordan's ultimatum: peace now or it’s war next year Times Online — America is putting the final touches to a hugely ambitious peace plan for the Middle East, aimed at ending more than 60 years of conflict between Israel and the Arabs, according to Jordan’s King Abdullah, who is helping to bring the parties together. The Obama Administration is pushing for a comprehensive peace agreement that would include settling Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its territorial disputes with Syria and Lebanon, King Abdullah II told The Times. Failure to reach agreement at this critical juncture would draw the world into a new Middle East war next year. “If we delay our peace negotiations, then there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next 12-18 months,” the King said. click to read complete article

Russia plays up its international role – especially in Mideast peace Christian Science Monitor — Russia is moving to reassert its role in the Middle East – and in particular in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process – as President Obama prepares to receive principal leaders in the conflict at the White House in the coming weeks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chaired a special meeting Monday of the United Nations Security Council that endorsed the idea of holding a Middle East peace conference in Moscow this year. In a presidential statement, the Security Council also called on all parties to honor past international accords – a clear nudge to a wavering Israeli government to embrace the concept of a two-state solution, in which a new Palestine would exist next to Israel. click to read complete article