According to Erica Werner of the Associated Press, President Barack Obama, visiting the world's most populous Muslim nation, expressed deep concern Tuesday that Israelis and Palestinians aren't making the "extra effort" to secure a breakthrough for achieving Middle East peace. Obama said he hasn't seen the kind of progress in negotiations that "could finally create a framework for a secure Israel living side by side in peace with a sovereign Palestine." Asked at a news conference with Indonesia's President Suslilo Bambang Yudhoyono about Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem, Obama said, "Each of these incremental steps can end up breaking that trust between these parties." Obama raised his Mideast concerns while appearing with Yudhoyono during his first visit to Indonesia as president to the country where he lived for four years as a child. Peace in the Middle East has been elusive, to say the least. It's hard enough trying to broker peace in this country, let alone the Middle East. Hope springs eternal.
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