WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday delicately waded into the first round of Middle East peace talks in years, meeting privately at the White House with lead negotiators for the Israeli and Palestinian delegations.
Even still, the White House strategy remained for Obama to take a mostly hands-off approach to the actual negotiations.
The strategy is in part a vote of confidence in Secretary of State John Kerry, who has embraced the vexing and emotional issue with gusto since joining the administration earlier this year. It also signals a calculation by the White House that direct presidential intervention is best reserved for the final stages of negotiations — if the process ever reaches that point — or moments of tension when Obama might be called upon to keep the talks afloat.
Aaron David Miller, a longtime Middle East peace adviser to Democratic and Republican presidents, backed the White House's approach.