20 April, 2011 Article 1. The Cairo Review of Global Affairs The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Now William B. Quandt Article 2. Foreign Policy The United States' heavy-handed efforts to help Israel at the U.N. Colum Lynch Article 3. The Washington Post Time to up the ante on Egypt David Ignatius Article 4. The National Interest Samantha and Her Subjects Jacob Heilbrunn Article 1. The Cairo Review of Global Affairs The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Now William B. Quandt Spring 2011 -- The upheaval that shook the Arab world in early 2011 should lead to a fundamental recalibration of American policies in the Middle East. As this debate gets underway, many, perhaps most, will conclude that this is no time for pushing hard for Arab-Israeli peace. They will argue that it is time to let the dust from the Arab revolution settle, to shore up other fragile regimes, and to hope for the best. Certainly the official view from Israel will reinforce such a wait and see attitude. But such a posture, at a time like this, will have the effect of making the United States look marginal to the central developments of the region. While it is true that U.S. influence has waned in recent years–and that need not be such a bad thing–on the issue of Arab-Israeli peace the U.S. still has a major interest and a major responsibility. So, the Obama administration should take a hard look, screw up its courage, and try for a serious multi-pronged effort to get Arab-Israeli peacemaking onto a promising track. If successful–and the odds are admittedly not good–this would mean that the U.S. was aligning itself with both democracy and peace in a vital part of the world. That would go a long way toward securing American interests. But, is it doable? The president still has time to make mid-course corrections and start to move in a more promising direction. But time is short and he will have to recognize some of the serious errors he has made if he is to get