Vice President Richard Cheney left for the Middle East this week and will visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to try to advance negotiations, two weeks after American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in the region. His trip lengthens a long list of officials who so far have unsuccessfully tried to bring about a final status plan for a new Arab state within Israel's current borders.
His visit is to "reassure people that the United States is committed to a vision of peace in the Middle East," and to make sure that "relevant parties ...uphold their obligations under the road map," American President George W. Bush told reporters before the Vice President left on his 10-day tour.
Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, expressed pessimism over the Bush administration's plans. "From the outside it's very hard to see that Secretary Rice was able to even arrest the slide let alone get things moving forward. My guess is the vice president will be able to arrest the slide if not necessarily put things on track," he added.