"..Obama's 'procrastination' in appointing envoy to Iran is 'very disconcerting,' ...to Israel.."

Ravid in Haaretz, here

"..Israeli officials are putting together a position paper on talks between the United States and Iran for the new administration in Washington, Israeli officials say. The paper will include a list of reservations about the state of international efforts against Iran's nuclear program. One worry is that negotiations will go on for too long.....
The paper states that talks between the United States and Iran should be limited to a short period of time. It also recommends that harsh sanctions be imposed against the Islamic Republic if negotiations fail......
About two weeks ago, senior diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany met in Berlin to discuss developments on the Iranian front. According to a senior official in Jerusalem, the European delegates were "severely disappointed" by what the American delegate, Under Secretary of State William Burns, had to say...... An Israeli diplomat told Haaretz that a senior consultant to German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "it's preferable that Ahmadinejad stays on instead of a smiling president who enjoys the image of a pragmatist like Khatami, who would mislead public opinion in the West and carry on with the Iranian nuclear program."