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(CNN) -
"Just when I thought I had left, they put me back in."
Al Pacino's famous line in "The Godfather: Part III" could also apply to US presidents trying to avoid conflict in the Middle East.
Joe Biden, while positioning the United States to compete with China, has shown little inclination to get involved in the treacherous politics of the region.
For the past 20 years he has had a front row seat as the Middle East shattered America's lives, treasures and prestige.
Is this the most violent conflict between Israel and Gaza?
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His biggest concern is not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but an attempt to revive the Iran nuclear deal.
However, the explosion of violence between Israel and Palestine will test his position, as vital US interests remain hostage to the turmoil in the eastern Mediterranean.
Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama tried, and failed, to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine with big initiatives.
President Donald Trump said that reaching an agreement "was not as difficult" as people think.
But his proposal, which greatly favored the Israelis, was doomed from the start.
Historical data to understand the Palestinian-Israeli situation in the West Bank
In an earlier era, the US Secretary of State's blue and white plane would have flown between Israel, Egypt and Jordan to promote a ceasefire. The fact that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is still at home is not just a reflection that the country is avoiding conflict. It also underlines that the prospects for any serious negotiations between Israel and Palestine have rarely been worse.
Years of an Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu that fostered settlement growth in the occupied West Bank make hopes for a state of Palestine bleak.
Israel's political instability deprives it of a strong government and further politicizes security issues.
A faded and ineffective leadership in Ramallah and the power of the militant group Hamas in Gaza have divided the unity of Palestine.
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Heavy artillery fire on Gaza;
Deny land incursion as clashes between Arabs and Jews shake Israel's cities
The violence could perhaps favor one of the parties: Iran, which must wait for the conflict to sever the new ties between the Jewish state and some Arab nations. And anything that involves Israel has strong political repercussions in the United States. Liberals want Biden to be tougher on Netanyahu because of Israel's airstrikes that kill civilians in Gaza and aggressive settlement policies that they say overflowed the cup. Republicans accuse the US president of setting the stage for violence by appeasing Iran, which finances Hamas. This also puts the deal with Iran into play. If intricate diplomacy somehow succeeds in forging a nuclear compromise,it will be even harder to sell in Washington as the Islamic Republic is accused of backing Hamas's rocket rain on Israel.
So Biden may have no choice but to get involved again.
Much of our engagement occurs in private
As violence in the Middle East killed more than 70 people this week, the US is quietly working to convey a message of "de-escalation" between Israelis and Palestinians.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that 10 phone calls had been made between "senior Washington-based officials" and Middle Eastern officials, including diplomats from Israel, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia and Egypt.
"Our engagement, to a large extent, is happening in private, through diplomatic channels, it is happening with officials in the region," he said.
On Wednesday, Biden said he had spoken at length with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Blinken has spoken with both the leader of Israel and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
However, the United States has blocked the approval of a UN Security Council statement condemning the violence, which had been proposed by Norway.
Two UN diplomats told CNN's Richard Roth that the United States had informed other Council members that it believed a statement could have a negative impact on diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the conflict.
Benjamin Netanyahu Israel-Palestine Conflict Joe Biden
