"The Obama administration has secured pledges from senior Mideast leaders to continue their fitful peace negotiations until after next month's U.S. midterm elections, largely to avoid handing the Obama administration an embarrassing diplomatic setback before the Nov. 2 elections.....
"The time frame we are following has been designed around the elections in America," said a senior member of the Palestinian negotiating team. "We have been asked not to issue announcements that could embarrass negotiation officials."...
An official in Netanyahu's office confirmed that Israel's position is to continue seeking compromises through the U.S. midterm elections. He added, however, that Netanyahu's administration is "eagerly awaiting" the results of the election. "There is a feeling that (President Barack) Obama could increase pressure on us after the election, when he doesn't have to worry about the pro-Israel lobby affecting election outcomes," he said.
An article in a leading Israeli daily newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, however, quoted "aides close to Netanyahu" saying that if Democrats fared poorly in the midterm elections, Netanyahu would be less likely to give into White House demands.
"Netanyahu and Abu Mazen's (Abbas's) target date is November 3, a day after the midterm elections in the United States. Abu Mazen hopes that Obama will impose an arrangement on Israel," Yediot said. "Netanyahu hopes that he will succeed in repelling the American president's initiative by means of friends of Israel in the House of Representatives, which is expected to have a Republican majority that is opposed to Obama."
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