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issues for George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, acquiring a reputation as a h=
ighly skilled diplomat, albeit one with a pronounced pro-Israel tilt. He le=
d the US side at the July 2000 Camp David summit, but he was deeply mistrus=
ted by Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, and the feeling was mutual. At a cr=
ucial moment in the negotiations, Ross threw a tantrum, hurling a briefing =
book into a table full of juice and fruit. Not surprisingly, when Arafat re=
jected the Israelis' less-than-generous offer, Ross heaped blame on the Pal=
estinians for scuttling the talks, the failure of which led directly to Ari=
el Sharon's rise to power and the second intifada. Daniel Kurtzer, an Ortho=
dox Jew who served as US ambassador to Israel and Egypt and who was one of =
Obama's top Middle East advisers last year, co-wrote a book in which he exp=
lained, "The perception always was that Dennis started from the Israeli bot=
tom line, that he listened to what Israel wanted and then tried to sell it =
to the Arabs."=20