In an effort to defuse the short-term crisis generated by the Palestinian push for United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state this week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has offered a compromise proposal: a "precise timetable" of negotiations under the aegis of the Quartet that would produce a final status agreement between Palestinians and Israelis in a year's time. The proposal's utility as a practical means of generating an actual solution is minimal, but it could represent a face-saving off-ramp way for the U.S. from the current confrontation.
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