Progress of indirect talks

For the time being, the Palestinians and Israelis are speaking with one another, albeit indirectly. Obama's envoy, former senator George Mitchell, spends much of his time these days shuttling the very short distance, passing messages between the parties.

His talks are understood to be taking place at the highest levels, with Abbas and Netanyahu preferring to be personally involved even at the earliest stages rather than handing the responsibilities down to more junior negotiators.

Yet the positives that could have been gained via the indirect conversations have simply not come to fruition, according to Gershon Baskin, who jointly heads the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information along with a Palestinian colleague. The opportunity for progress has largely been squandered, he opines.

There was always a sense among analysts that the indirect route was a step backwards. Here were two parties that had spent two decades in on-off face-to-face peace talks. Suddenly they were involved in a process in which they were not talking to one another officially even if some of those involved were long-time friends on a personal basis.

On the other hand, added the analysts, at least the sides were talking rather than killing one another.

Will direct talks happen?

The feeling amongst regional experts appears to be that the parties will enter direct talks sooner rather than later.

"A formula will have to be reached," the co-editor of Palestine- Israel Journal, Hillel Schenker, suggested on Thursday.

In his opinion political developments mean an agreement to sit together will likely be found before the end of the freeze.

"It is hard to imagine that Netanyahu will give it all up and then accept that Israel will be to blame for the breakdown of the process," he said.

However, both Schenker and Baskin realize that means Netanyahu will have to exert considerable political pressure at home.

"Netanyahu has homework to do in order to win support for the continuation of the settlement freeze. Those who disagree maybe will leave (his coalition)," said Baskin.

This is all about timing and with the mid-term Congressional elections slated for November, Obama has additional reasons for wanting to see the peace process on its proper path as soon as possible. While his focus is on the economy, the Gulf of Mexico and other domestic issues, a victory on the foreign policy scene would be an electoral feather in the Democrats' cap.