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Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/07/02/dead_on_arrival_middle_east_peace_john_kerry
Trying to Kick-Start a Middle East Peace Process
(Foreign Policy) Oren Kessler - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up a four-day Mideast peace push on June 30 in the most sustained U.S. bid at reviving Israeli-Palestinian talks in half a decade. Yet in Israel, Kerry's dogged do-goodery was met primarily with bemusement. "One wonders why the secretary of state would, as a first step in his foreign policy, embark on a very complicated issue that seems to many here to be unsolvable," said Zvi Rafiah, a former diplomat closely involved with U.S.-Israel relations for four decades. "If he succeeds, most Israelis would say, 'God bless.' But the chances he succeeds where his colleagues have failed are dim." "The whole Middle East is boiling, and you're concentrating on Israeli-Palestinian talks that will have no impact on the killings in Syria, Iran, or the crisis in Egypt. We're a bit bewildered, but we wish you well."