Middle East Expert: Europe Will Break From U.S. On Israel Policy

Dr. Paul Rivlin, a senior research fellow of Middle Eastern and African studies at Tel Aviv University, joined HuffPost Live Tuesday to discuss the Israeli election and the peace process. Rivlin told host Josh Zepps that a two-state situation for Israel and the Palestinian territories may be inevitable, as he can't see support for Israel's settlement-building enduring.

"The West will simply not allow this to happen," said Dr. Rivlin, referring to Israel's right-wing approach to the territory, "sooner or later there will be a break, and it's quite possible that this break will come with Europe instead of the United States."

Despite the US insistence on driving policy in the Middle East, Dr. Rivlin pointed out that Europe has significant influence in the area, and may have different priorities.

"I suspect that the European patience for Israel will break sooner than the American one, whether we like it or not."

Also joining the discussion on Israeli politics were Daniel Levy, director of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation, Dovid Efune, editor of the Algemeiner Newspaper, and MJ Rosenberg, HuffPost blogger.

WATCH THE FULL SEGMENT AT HUFFPOST LIVE.