Deadline looms for Mideast peace process

“I don’t think it’s in the interests of anybody to stall them,” Shabaneh said. He argued that there were simply no new compelling solutions put forward.

“The U.S. hasn’t put anything new on the table since the 1993 Oslo Accords,” he said, before suggesting that the U.S. design a plan that included conditions tied to humanitarian and military aid for both parties.

DeGennaro noted constraints on Washington’s flexibility. “The politics and policies and position of the Israeli lobby here [in the U.S.] makes it very difficult for Congress to decide to change any policies,” she said, “whether the administration wants to or not.”

She pointed to Israeli settlements as a fundamental block for talks to move forward.

“Every time there’s a peace process, they increase,” she said of the settlements, which international law considers illegal.

Betz provided numbers:

• In 1983, 15 years after Israel took over the West Bank, there were 22,800 settlers.

• By 1993, that number had almost quintupled, to 111,600 settlers.

• And by 2011, there were 328,423 settlers.

Shabaneh argued there was another demographic reason for Israel to seek a deal as soon as possible. “The Palestinians, by 2025, will be almost 9 million people between the [Jordan] River and the Mediterranean,” he said.

He added that the U.S. pivot to Asia should add even more pressure to both sides of negotiations, especially the Israelis’. “If Israel doesn’t cut a deal within the next five to 10 years, as the U.S. is withdrawing from the region, who’s going to protect Israel? Who’s going to negotiate on behalf of Israel?”

In the long run, the rising influence of China, Russia and the European Union will affect the region’s balance. But a short-term date is more pressing. Negotiators have until April 29 to arrange a new round of talks for July.

The U.S. special envoy, Ambassador Martin Indyk, will soon return to the region for one last push before the deadline, but if negotiators miss the date, the Obama administration’s ambition for peace will likely meet the same fate as the 110 proposals that came before.