I know that we have all been through this kabuki dance before and our hopes have been dashed every single time BUT, I do think that there might be a couple of reasons(that I don't think I've seen mentioned before)why this time it at least has a chance............
...and here are two big reasons that I have not yet heard mentioned that I think might mean the difference.
First, Nethanyahu has the most leverage with Obama right now. Once Obama has won his second term(is there any doubt?? :-)), then he doesn't have to live with the pressure from the American Jewish establishment AND the evangelical right whereas right now, those are two very important constituencies with significant influence. And Bibi needs the support of those two constituencies to get the best deal possible.
Second, Bibi also knows that the support for Israel's current stance and policies is fast eroding in the US. For a brilliant analysis of this, you can read Peter Beinart's article here http://www.nybooks.com/... but the essential point is that the support for Israel amongst the American Jewry has a big generational divide and the younger generation is clearly in a totally different place. This puts added pressure on Bibi and his supporters here to get the best deal possible now. And being from the right. he can sell the solution to the right wing in Israel. Here are some of the more interesting excerpts from Beinart's analysis:
In recent years, several studies have revealed, in the words of Steven Cohen of Hebrew Union College and Ari Kelman of the University of California at Davis, that "non-Orthodox younger Jews, on the whole, feel much less attached to Israel than their elders,"
Most of the students, in other words, were liberals, broadly defined. They had imbibed some of the defining values of American Jewish political culture: a belief in open debate, a skepticism about military force, a commitment to human rights. And in their innocence, they did not realize that they were supposed to shed those values when it came to Israel. The only kind of Zionism they found attractive was a Zionism that recognized Palestinians as deserving of dignity and capable of peace, and they were quite willing to condemn an Israeli government that did not share those beliefs. Luntz did not grasp the irony. The only kind of Zionism they found attractive was the kind that the American Jewish establishment has been working against for most of their lives.
This news today was quite heartening AFTER Nethanayu had declared before the peace talks that a divided Jerusalem was not even up for consideration.
Barak to Haaretz: Israel ready to cede parts of Jerusalem in peace deal
Ahead of start of direct peace talks in Washington, Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods will be part of a Palestinian state; a 'special regime' to govern holy sites.
Here is the link http://www.haaretz.com/...
So while I do not want to get my hopes up high, there just might be a confluence of events that just might lead us somewhere towards peace this time.