Gore: I'm Only Here for the Party

JERUSALEM: Anyone who's ever bargained over tchotchkes in a Middle Eastern market will recognize the pattern: Arafat demands Israeli withdrawal from 30 percent of the West Bank; Netanyahu offers 9 percent; the U.S. suggests 13 percent; Arafat reluctantly agrees. Today, Netanyahu announced he might meet Arafat "halfway" at 11 percent. You do the math; Al Gore won't -- he stressed repeatedly that he was here for Israel's birthday party, not as a peace negotiator.

"Gore is behaving like a man running for president who is out to win Jewish votes and contributions," says TIME Jerusalem correspondent Eric Silver. Similar concerns may lie behind Netanyahu's stonewalling. "He's trying to avoid breaking up his coalition, which includes parties that don't want to give up any land at all," says Silver. The likelihood of any progress at next week's peace talks in London now depends on whether Washington is prepared to put the screws on Netanyahu. The chances of that? Well, this is an election year.