Mideast - A week of dimming peace prospects

Eight months after Barack Obama launched his presidency by promising a speedy push for Palestinian-Israeli peace, that effort has stalled badly. And there are now growing fears that the top levels of Obama's peace team are torn by internal disagreements that may undermine the whole peace effort. Some of these problems were on view during two high-level appearances Obama made in New York this week. On Tuesday, speaking to the media after the three-way meeting he held with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Obama notably avoided saying anything about the failure of the high-profile campaign he and his chief peace envoy, George Mitchell, have pursued to "persuade" the Israeli government to stop building settlement housing in the occupied West Bank. Obama instead announced a new project: the resumption of the long-suspended negotiations between the parties over the terms of their final peace. Most observers - in Palestine, Israel, and the U.S. - interpreted Tuesday's events as marking two distinct victories for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.