All Blog Posts from World Watch

Leaders from 48 Islamic states met Monday in Turkey to begin an economic summit which may see its stated purpose overshadowed by some controversial guests, and the decades-old quest for peace in the Middle East.

The one-day gathering drew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is engaged in a standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear program, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on his first trip abroad since being controversially re-elected, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Gul told attendees that the Arab-Israeli conflict is the basis of all conflicts in the Middle East, stressing the need to find a final solution to this issue and end the Israeli occupation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

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Israel has unexpectedly released two Syrian men who spent 25 years in Israeli jails, the longest terms ever served by Syrians in custody of the Jewish state, Syria's state-run news agency reported Friday.

Bisher Suleiman Ahmad Maqt, 44, was freed suddenly despite having 12 years left to serve on his sentence. Also released was Assem Mahmud Ahmed Wali, who had two years left.

It was not clear yet why the men were released and whether the move was connected with an expected prisoner exchange between Israel and the Islamic fundamentalist movement Hamas, which is holding captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit inside the Gaza Strip.

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Watching the new administration try to get a grip on a century of ill will in the Middle East reminds me of a disconcerting feeling I had on the campaign trail listening to then-candidate Barack Obama say the following to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) back in June of 2008:

"Any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized, defensible borders. And Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and must remain undivided."

The line was greeted with rapturous applause from the audience, made up of the most ardent supporters of Israel in the country. And it was delivered by a man trying to overcome their suspicion of him. But it was a line sure to trouble many others outside the hall, Jews and Arabs alike, who believe territorial compromise is the only way to an enduring peace in the Middle East.

Left: President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Palestinians regard the heavily Arab portion of Jerusalem as their capital-in-waiting. But more important, decades of American foreign policy have regarded that part of the city, as well as the West Bank and Golan Heights as territory illegally occupied by Israel; territory that will be part of any final agreement; territory that – as long as it remains occupied – presents an obstacle to peace.

What Obama said that day more than a year ago was disconcerting because he did not seem to realize how inflammatory his words were. Indeed, within days he backtracked away from the statement, offending everybody and satisfying no one. But he should have known better. That he did not told me he was not well-versed in the nuances of Middle East policy and that, most probably, someone working for him who was on one side of the dispute had inserted the language in the belief Obama would not see it for what it was.

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This story was filed by CSB Radio News correspondent Robert Berger in Jerusalem.

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Former Arkansas Governor and presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is on a solidarity visit to Israel.

Huckabee visited disputed Jewish communities in East Jerusalem and blasted the Obama administration for demanding a freeze on Israeli settlement expansion.

"How would the government of the United States feel if Prime Minister Netanyahu began to dictate which people could live in the Bronx, which ones could live in Manhattan, which ones could live in Queens, and say, you know, we only allow certain people to live in these neighborhoods," said the Republican, who now hosts his own show on the Fox News Channel.

Washington sees the settlements as an obstacle to peace, and the Obama administration has exerted increasing pressure on President Benjamin Netanyahu to stop expansion, but Huckabee said Jews should be allowed to build in their own land.

Most Israeli settlements exist inside Palestinian territory, however, with the exception of East Jerusalem, which is squarely under Israeli
control though home to many Israelis of Arab descent.

Palestinian leaders hope the capital of a future Palestinian state will be in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the pressure coming from Washington does seem to be having some results.

Israeli officials say they have quietly frozen new building projects in the West Bank in response to U.S. pressure.

The Obama administration has demanded a complete freeze on settlement expansion.

Israel hopes a compromise involving a halt to new projects will help heal the rift between the two countries, but current building projects are continuing and Israel won't halt any construction in disputed East Jerusalem.

George Mitchell, the Obama administration's Middle East envoy, hoped on Sunday his new round of talks in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad — their second in a month — would breathe new life into the faltering peace process, Washington's ultimate goal in the Middle East.

"I have just completed a very candid and positive conservation with President al-Assad," Mitchell said, reports CBS News' George Baghdadi in Damascus. "I discussed with him the prospects for moving forward on our goal of comprehensive peace in the region and improved bilateral relations between Syria and the United States."

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Writing from Damascus, CBS News' George Baghdadi reports that George Mitchell, the Obama administration's Middle East envoy, arrived in the Syrian capital Saturday night to encourage Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to support America's new broad-based, comprehensive peace drive in the Middle East.

It will be Mitchell's second visit to Syria since mid-June, as President Obama seeks to re-engage Damascus — a key regional player — to try and breathe new life into the faltering peace process. Mitchell has made five previous visits to the region.

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A high-level U.S. delegation will visit Syria this week — for the second time in just two months — to discuss how best to seal the Mideast state's border with Iraq, and how to stoke faltering peace talks between Syria and Israel.

This week's one-day visit, which comes a couple weeks before a scheduled trip by Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to Washington, is the latest sign of possible reconciliation between the two countries after years of tension.

Syria could prove a valuable ally to the Obama administration in the Mideast, but first, Washington wants the country's leaders to be less-friendly terms with Iran.

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Israel is concerned that the U.S. may be planning to approve funding for a future Palestinian unity government that would include the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Israeli officials say the Obama administration has asked Congress to change a U.S. law to allow such indirect funding for Hamas, even though the group is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.

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A top Hamas leader would not rule out the possibility of freeing Israeli prisoner Gilad Shalit in return for releasing Palestinian prisoners, and indicated a Gaza truce accord between Israel and the Palestinian militant movement could be reached within the next few days.

"Throughout the talks that we have been making in Cairo, I think there might be positive results in the next few days on reaching an understanding on a truce with the Israelis," Hamas' Mousa Abul Marzouk told CBS News.

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Palestinian reconciliation was dealt a new blow Sunday when Hamas rejected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' condition that the militant group should first recognize the supremacy of the PLO before they hold new talks.

In a speech at a Palestinian hospital in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, Abbas lashed out at the Islamist movement for its conduct during the three-week Gaza war, accusing the group of "irresponsible behavior" and of carrying out "an agenda which is not Palestinian."

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