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What Makes John Kerry Think He Can Secure Peace in Israel?
(Washington Post) Aaron David Miller - Having analyzed and worked on the Arab-Israeli peace process for more than 40 years, my initial reaction to Secretary of State John Kerry's success in getting the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume talks was predictably negative: He may get them to the negotiating table, but he cannot keep them there, let alone reach an agreement. The last time I had a role in this movie - the historic Camp David summit of July 2000 - the effort failed, triggering the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence in half a century. But there are some factors that might explain the secretary's willingness to defy the odds - and why we shouldn't discount his efforts just yet. With Syria offline because of its civil war, Iran's peace-process meddling constrained by its rift with Hamas, and the end of the Muslim Brotherhood's rule in Egypt, the traditional spoilers don't seem as empowered as in the past. The writer is a vice president and distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center.