Obama’s March Madness in the Middle East
President Barack Obama will realize on his trip this week that Israeli and Palestinian leaders do not have an interest in a peace process, writes Alon Pinkas.
When President Barack Obama is done with his NCAA March Madness bracket predictions, he's likely to look at a different set of brackets, one already filled for his convenience by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: the brackets representing the new Israeli government, the 33rd government since 1948-49 (yes, the average life span is less than two years).
Unlike the NCAA brackets, the Israeli government doesn't offer any potential for riveting upsets, breathtaking surprises, pretty Cinderellas or last-second clutch performances.
What Obama will see is what he will get in the near future: A right-wing government with unprecedented power and influence in the hands of settlers and their supporters.
A collection of ministers from Likud and "The Jewish Home" who are all on record as opposing the two-state model, a settlement-building freeze, the "Clinton Parameters" of 2000-2001 and the Olmert-Abbas understandings of 2008 as terms of reference for any kind of negotiations.
