Dennis Ross Returns

Obama adds Dennis Ross to his team of foreign policy advisers.

Even before Barack Obama says a word upon his arrival in Israel next week, close observers of America's role in the region will get a message from the presence in his delegation of a tall, slightly disheveled diplomat well known to the power players of the Middle East. In a region where simple words and gestures can be taken as weighty indicators of intent, Arabs and Israelis alike will see much meaning in the return of Dennis Ross.

In one way, the message is simple: Ross, a career foreign service officer, was lead negotiator on Israeli-Palestinian issues for Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and he got the two sides as close as they've come to a peace deal before stepping down after the 2000 election. His presence alongside Obama in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan is designed to signal the senator's intent to resume the active pursuit of the peace process, which Obama claims President George W. Bush has derailed through inaction.