From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Do peace talks? Have a future.

Hello again, I'm Orman Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

Just three months after President

Obama took credit for renewing direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians, they're not

talking at all. Palestinians demanded a freeze on Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, but even

America's offer of billions in fighter jets could not get Israel to agree. Hillary Clinton says it's time to talk about core issues.

George Mitchell is back in the region, but U.S. policy is not entirely clear. Was pushing for

the settlement freeze a blunder, has Israeli intransigence further isolated it from the rest of the

world? On reporter's notebook later on, a remembrance of Richard Holbrook. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again, Mormon Alney, back with To the Point.

President Obama's hope that direct talks would bring Middle East peace in a year seems less likely than ever. The U.S. failed to persuade Israel to freeze settlements in East Jerusalem, and no

talks are recurring at all. We'll ask what might happen next. On reporter's notebook, President

Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan died suddenly

of a ruptured aorta.

We'll talk about Richard Holbrook with his friend, the New Yorker writer, George Packer.

First is news update.

A judge in London has approved the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on several

conditions, including bail, set at $310,000.

...