Reportedly, two-time loser to be given a third chance to fail by Obama. (Updated)

Dennis Ross who was a dead-hand on the wheel as peacemaker in the Clinton the first Bushjr term. His chief accomplishment the Hebron agreement--enough said.

FT.com / US / Politics & Foreign policy - Obama picks Ross as Mideast envoy: "Dennis Ross, a former top diplomat for the George H W Bush and Clinton administrations, will become the Obama administration’s top envoy on the Middle East, an internal email from Mr Ross’s current employer has revealed.

"Mr Ross, who previously served as the US envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is set to take a wider role as Hillary Clinton’s top adviser for the Middle East as a whole. Ms Clinton herself is due to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for her confirmation hearing for Secretary of State next Tuesday."

"The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a news organisation, reported this week that Mr Ross told a meeting at a synagogue this week that if Hamas had ”the capability to rearm” the current conflict would serve as “just a prelude” to the next round.

"The agency reported that Mr Ross said achieving an Israeli-Palestinian agreement would now be harder than the previous attempt with which he was involved in 2000, partly because the Israeli public did not believe such an agreement was possible.

"However people close to Mr Ross maintain he was volunteering more of a description of Israeli thinking than an analysis of the US position on the conflict."

Added:

Aaron David Miller was sidekick to Dennis Ross. He is a veteran of 25 years of "peace processing" and his comments on what Obama needs to do are worth considering. Also, note his characterization of the past 16 years of U.S. interaction with Israel. Also, keep in mind that while he does not name Dennis Ross, it was Ross who happily carried out those policies.

Update: Reliable Washington sources emphasize that WINEP (the pro-Israel think-tank created from a rib of AIPAC in the 1980s) and the neo-con AEI mounted a campaign to insure that Ross was named Middle East envoy for Obama. One source compares the campaign to the one mounted to infiltrate John Bolton into Colin Powell's State Dept. as the first Bush jr. term was begining. Powell and Co. thought they had beaten off the campaign, but when Powell wanted Richard Armitage as his deputy Cheney insisted that only if Powell accepted Bolton would be get Armitage. This info reminds us that much of the worshipful coverage of Ross recently is likely to be part of the campaign.