Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger says there is little chance of any breakthrough in stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, as President Barack Obama visits Israel next week on his first trip there since taking office. âIâm not optimisticâ about reviving peace talks, in large part because of the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties in the region that arenât inclined to support a âjust outcomeâ with Israel, Kissinger said in an interview airing this weekend on Bloomberg TVâs âConversations with Judy Woodruff.â The former national security adviser to President Richard Nixon, Kissinger, 89, is an elder statesman of American foreign policy who, among other things, negotiated the U.S. opening with China in 1971 and an Israeli-Egyptian disengagement following the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He was secretary of state in the administrations of Nixon and President Gerald Ford. Kissinger said he doesnât have a rosy view of the so-called Arab Spring that has been widely portrayed as popular uprisings with democratic aspirations. Most revolutions, he said, consist of âmany groups hostile to the existing government, but not necessarily for the same reason.â He cited the Syrian civil war as one conflict that has been widely misunderstood. âItâs not a fight of democracy against a dictator,â he said. âItâs a fight of various ethnic groups for preeminence.â Syrian Rebels The U.S. needs to be careful about aiding the Syrian opposition, which has elements that are affiliated with extremist groups, he said. The Obama administration would need to first identify groups âthat are at least not hostile to us and preferably support our principles.â If such groups exist, âwe should give them support in order to strengthen them in the internal debate,â he said, adding that support shouldnât involve U.S. ground forces in Syria. The Obama administration has been funneling humanitarian aid and non-lethal supplies to groups it sees as supporting democracy in Syria, in part to bolster them against more radical rebel factions such as the al-Nusra Front, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq. Kissinger, who has known every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy, said he felt âsympathyâ for some of the deposed or weakened Arab leaders âthat for 30 years were American allies. We couldnât keep them in office, but we should, we owed them more dignityâ at the end, he said. His skepticism about the Arab revolutions underpins his pessimism about Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects. Military, Islamists âTo have a meaningful Palestinian-Israeli agreement, the Arab world has to be prepared to guarantee it and to accept it,â Kissinger said, adding that the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt doesnât seem prepared to âaccept genuine coexistence.â Kissinger sees a contest in Egypt between the military and the Islamists. Those who have been sidelined include the âsmall group of Cairo-based intellectuals and professionals who know how to get peopleâ to Tahrir Square, the site of mass demonstrations, âbut donât know what to do with them when they get them there.â While Kissinger said he doesnât share Secretary of State John Kerryâs view that thereâs an opening for progress on Middle East peace, he does agree âthat an effort should be made in order to see what is possible.â Obama Visit Obama this week told Arab-American leaders that he will use his visit to Israel and Jordan to express U.S. support for an independent Palestinian state, for the moderate government of the Palestinian Authority, and for security and political reform in Jordan, while also underscoring the U.S. commitment to Israeli security, according to a White House official who asked to not be identified in discussing the presidentâs plans. Obamaâs visit to the region comes as the U.S. is seeking more time to pursue diplomacy rather than military action to curb Iranâs potential capability to make nuclear weapons. Iranâs advances in uranium enrichment and missiles mean that Obama may have a window of just 15 months before he faces a decision on whether to stop the Iranian program by military means, Kissinger said. Asked about Afghan President Hamid Karzaiâs accusation March 10 that the U.S. is fomenting violence in Afghanistan to justify keeping troops there, Kissinger said he âcan understand why Karzai made the statements he did, though thereâs no excuse for making them when the secretary of defense of the United States is in the country.â http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...ittle-hope-for-mideast-peace-arab-spring.html