Get ready for political theater as the administration and the media try to shape the discussions during the political season — Act I, if you can believe it, is a new round of Arab-Israeli peace talks, announced by Hillary Clinton:

The breakthrough after a nearly two-year hiatus in face-to-face negotiations brings the two sides back to where they were when the last direct talks began in November 2007, near the end of the Bush administration. Those talks broke down after Israel’s 2008 military operation in Gaza, followed by Netanyahu’s election last year on a much tougher platform than his predecessor.

Friday’s announcement came after months of shuttle diplomacy by the Obama administration’s Mideast envoy, former Sen. George Mitchell. It also followed a period of chilly U.S. relations with Netanyahu, primarily over expansion of Jewish housing on disputed land.

Under the agreement, Obama will hold separate discussions with Netanyahu and Abbas on Sept. 1 and then host the dinner, which will also be attended by Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

Egypt and Jordan already have peace deals with Israel and will play a crucial support role in the new talks. Also invited is former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the special representative of the “Quartet” of Mideast peacemakers — the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia.

On Sept. 2, Clinton will bring Abbas and Netanyahu together for the first formal round of direct talks since December 2008. At that point the parties will decide where and when to hold later rounds as well as lay out what is to be discussed. U.S. officials have said following rounds are likely to be held in Egypt.

This is just more expensive rubbish, and it does the US no good to lend whatever credibility it has left to this charade. Here’s our thought on when peace talks might be useful: when Palestinian maps of the Middle East include a distinct country called Israel, there might be some basis for talking. Until then, let’s save time, money and credibility and skip this farce.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 21st, 2010 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Democrats, MSM, Religion, Republicans, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.