With respect to the coming Annapolis talks, Shibley Telhami makes this important point in his posting at the Brookings Institution's site: "If there is no profound transformation on the ground, such as the removal of a significant number of roadblocks and checkpoints (the single most detrimental factor for the Palestinian economy and psychology), Annapolis will become a new metaphor for diplomatic failure."
Sadly, after a round of very positive sounding news reports coming out of Jerusalem, we are now hearing that the US and Israel are playing down expectations. See today's NYT. According to this report, in Israeli political circles a new verb has been coined, "lecondel"—"to come and go for meetings that produce few results"—a reference to Condoleezza Rice's many visits and based on her name. Telhami is right, unless there are changes on the ground after Annapolis, the whole affair will be another damp squib.
