World: The U.S. decides to let Israeli settlement deal fall through
- That sound you hear is that of the U.S. dragging its tail between its legs. After attempting to making an offer to Israel to give them some fighter jets in exchange for a temporary delay of their building ambitions, the deal fell apart. The hope was that the delay would encourage Israel and Palestine to create firm borders, but in the end, the U.S. wouldn’t offer anything up to Israel in writing, and Palestine wouldn’t rekindle peace talks over a temporary settlement-building halt. The U.S. is playing down the diplomatic failure (which was kind of a bum deal anyway) and instead moving on to diplomatic talks between Israel and Palestine next week in the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, by the way, will be making a speech about the Middle East on Friday. source