US Democratic presidential hopeful Barrack Obama revealed during a closed door meeting with Jewish communal leaders in New York this week that he is being instructed on Middle East policy by Dennis Ross, who was the Clinton administration's top peace envoy to the region.
While Ross was the architect of former President Bill Clinton's Middle East peace initiative, he has recently won the respect of those leery of the land-for-peace formula by openly blaming Yasser Arafat and his PLO for the collapse of the peace process.
Speaking to the Jewish news agency JTA, Obama aides did not elaborate on the advice Ross is offering the senator.