Insights

Obama must clearly act on U.S. interests and at the same time be keenly sensitive to politics of both sides, without surrendering to them.

The current political and economic situation of Israel and the entire world today, election season 2012 does not offer incentive or even fantasy that aggression will bring votes.

If it is true that both sides see no reason or have no interest to escalate the conflict at this time, we need to find a way to prevent the cycle from repeating itself.

Para el fundador del Centro Palestino-Israelí de Investigación e Información, Gershon Baskin, la diferencia más importante entre ambos contendientes es de calendario. “La próxima Administración, sea de Obama o de Romney, tratará de relanzar las negociaciones (…) Si gana Obama, puede montar su equipo de Oriente Medio el 7 de noviembre. Si entra Romney (…) hablamos de un año hasta que pueda hacer algo”.

Gershon Baskin thinks that we should let the people in Gaza see the opportunity for real peace, since if they did see the opportunity it wouldn’t be long before they ousted the extremists in an Arab Spring of their own.

If I were prime minister, who would receive my first phone call? It would not be a difficult decision – Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.