US RESISTS EUROPEAN PRESSURE ON ISRAEL BUT THROWS PALESTINIANS A BONE

U.S Rejects European Pressure on Israel, Eases Roadmap for Palestinians - Glenn Kessler
Administration officials reject the European notion that U.S. pressure on Israel is the key to ending the conflict. "Public pressure on Israel is not what's going to work. Private reasoning does," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in a Dec. 20 interview with PBS's Charlie Rose. Armitage said that Israel's "presence in the occupied territories provides them some sort of buffer, and it's going to take a lot of development of confidence on the part of Israel before I think they fully remove themselves and live next door to...people with whom they've had such a difficult and rocky relationship." A senior administration official said the European gambit for greater U.S. pressure on Israel will fail. "Israel bashing is not the answer," he said. "The road to peace is not bashing a democratic state that has significant restraints in what it can do."

Unofficially, the administration, for the moment, appears to have lowered the bar for the Palestinians. The road map plan calls for a dismantling of militant groups by the PA, but officials have indicated that a period of quiet - some sort of cease-fire - would be acceptable at first. (Washington Post)