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 WASHINGTON (AP) - Depending on who's talking, President Bush is either taking advantage of a rare window of hope in the clouded Middle East, or he has the worst timing imaginable.
Bush took a more direct role in seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians on Monday, despite what looks to many like an untenable split among the Palestinians and weak political leadership on both sides.
"The only consensus in the Palestinian and Israeli publics is that their current political leadership is ineffective," said Jon Alterman, a Mideast expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Neither community has the beginning of an agreement on what goals it should strive for, or what blend of negotiations and threat of violence it should pursue."
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