Upon further review...

I recently made the post asking what Israel had to gain by continuing to build settlements in the occupied territories. No one responded, so I am following up my own musings with more musings. Here's my follow-up question:

What does the US gain by pushing Israel and the PA so hard towards "peace talks"?

Obvious answers aside (you know what I mean... peace-nik slogans like "Give Peace a Chance" and "Peace is Profitable" and the liberal view that "world peace" is an achievable goal in a world where no one but liberals give it a second thought), what is the imperative for the Obama Administration to push so hard for Palestinian/Israeli talks?

The last time Israel made concessions to the PA/PLO was in 2005, when all Israeli settlers and troops were removed from Gaza, and full, complete control of the territory was handed over to the Hamas/Fatah coalition Palestinian Authority. After months of fighting between Hamas and Fatah supporters in Gaza, all Fatah associates were either rounded up and killed or were expelled from the Strip. Gaza has since degenerated into a nightmare landscape of fear and terror, where even Palestinians do not feel safe walking the streets. Christians are kidnapped and murdered for associating or supporting the wrong "political" party within the PA, and Muslims are forced to support, supply or even participate in terror attacks against Israeli towns outside of Gaza.

Gaza is the shining example of what the "elected" Hamas leadership within the PA can provide to the Palestinian people... a war-torn landscape with frequent shortages of power, water and medical supplies, limited transportation capabilities, massive unemployment and unrest, and the forced distrust of even fellow Muslims (let alone Christian) Palestinians outside of Gaza.

Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, demands not that Israel remove itself from the occupied territories but actually remove itself (or be removed) from the Levant entirely. Hamas demands that East Jerusalem be returned to Palestinian control without condition on the part of the Israelis... but ignores that Jerusalem was never "Palestinian" to begin with, and that the Israeli control of the City stemmed from Jordan's "retreat" in 1967... which they have never argued or protested against, either. Jordan controlled and administered East Jerusalem... not any kind of Palestinian "authority". In fact, no Palestinian was ever part of the City's administrative makeup prior to Jordan losing control in 1967... at all. Jordan treated East Jerusalem as a prized jewel in the personal possession of the King, with utter and complete authoritative control resting in Amman... not Palestine.

Jordan has since dropped all claims to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, preferring to maintain the borders at their pre-1948 position... as has Egypt, which has made the agreement to reclaim the entire Sinai Peninsula, while dropping all claims to territories outside of its 1906 borders with Israel/Palestine.

Even Syria has made no real effort to regain the Golan Heights since 1973 (the Yom Kippur War), and while Golan is almost universally recognized as Syrian territory (NOT Palestinian at all), Syria refused to talk to Israel in 1968 when Israel offered Golan back as part of a brokered peace treaty.

The PLO has, since its inception in 1964, refused to compromise with the Israelis... even considering the Oslo Accords in '94, the PLO made no actual concessions at the bargaining table, other than agreeing to leave East Jerusalem out of the discussions held in '94. All concession have been made by Israel, and none have given Israel the degree of "peace and security" that the talks promised. The PA has been completely unable to provide security within its areas of control, it has failed each and every time to stop the mortar and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, it has proven itself utterly unable or utterly unwilling to address internal mismanagement and scandal, and it continues to support those local groups of radicals and terrorists that openly plan, organize and carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli AND Palestinian civilians.

Initial American resistance to the recognition of Israel as a nation in 1949 stemmed from State Department concerns that association with Israel would complicate or hinder Arab relations and possibly interfere with American oil interests in the region... a concern that 60 years of close diplomatic ties between Israel and America have proven unwarranted. In fact, the opposite has been found to be true: Arab belligerence and inter-regional fighting has proven a far greater threat to US interests than any associations with Israel that the US has enjoyed.

So what is the impetus behind the current Administration's goals of helping to broker "peace talks" between an Israel that has never seen a single promise by the PLO/PA deliver on and a PLO/PA that refuses to recognize the same fundamental right to exist in Israel that they demand be recognized in themselves?

I think it is as simple as Obama wanting a version of Carter's "Camp David Accords" and Clinton's "Oslo Accords" for his own Administration... because nothing he has supported or promised since his election has proven to bear any real fruit. He's bucking for a photo-op like his two Democratic predecessors had, with Israeli leadership shaking hands and hugging Palestinian leadership, with Obama smiling in the middle... so that come 2012, he can offer the American people SOMETHING worth voting for, even if its only diplomatic success in a region of the world most Americans couldn't find on a blank map.

Thoughts?