"...he road to Tehran leads through... Jerusalem"

Borzou Daragahi in the LATimes, here

"....Obama said while the charged atmosphere in the Middle East makes it tough for Israel to negotiate with its rivals, he viewed the situation the other way around. Read the little-cited quotes below:

"If there is a linkage between Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, I personally believe it actually runs the other way. To the extent that we can make peace with the Palestinians -- between the Palestinians and the Israelis, then I actually think it strengthens our hand in the international community in dealing with a potential Iranian threat...... Imagine how much less mischief a Hezbollah or a Hamas could do if in fact we had moved a Palestinian-Israeli track in a direction that gave the Palestinian people hope? And if Hezbollah and Hamas [are] weakened, imagine how that impacts Iran's ability to make mischief, and vice versa."