I support Obama's call for a settlement freeze - that would apply to E. Jerusalem as well as the West Bank - although I do believe the rollout has been somewhat ham-handed, i.e., denying the existence of previous agreements that apparently did, in fact, exist, rather than explaining why those agreements are no longer valid.

I disagree, however, that Obama "doesn't have to worry about the consensus of public opinion in Israel. Of course, he does. In the end, it is the Israeli public that will have to make the decision to stop building settlements, and the Israeli public that will be asked to judge any peace deal, should one ever be offered. Obama has thus far failed to bring his natural allies in Israel, the center-left and even the left, to join in his call for a freeze. He has not, as one would hope, helped isolate and possibly bring down the Netanyahu government. Instead, unlike past governments that have crumbled at the sign of deteriorating relations with Washington, Netanyahu's appears strengthened. In the meantime, Abbas can continue hiding behind the spat, refusing to negotiate until a freeze is implemented (never mind that he apparently had no good comeback for Olmert's proposal that would have dismantled most settlements, given the Palestinians the equivaelent of 100% of the West Bank with land exchanges, allowed the return of a nominal number of refugees and joint control over Jerusalem).

By taking the issue public, Obama seems to be trying to gain credibility with the Arab world by demonstrating that the US is willing to be tough with Israel. By failing to engage the Israeli public, however, he could wind up weakening those who are best positioned to help him achieve his goals.

I guess we'll see.

Obama has boxed himself in with this inane settlement freeze demand, and made negotiations and peace much harder to achieve. Bibi can not agree to a settlemet freeze because his coalition would fall apart, and because the majority in Israel don't support it. At the same time, Abbas and Erekat have publicly stated that they won't return to negotiations until there is a complete settlement freeze. Mitchell is trying to negotiate a compromise with Israel. If he does negotiate a compromise, Abbas can not accept it because Hamas will call him a traitor and he will lose the litle support he does have. If Mitchell does not get a compromise, then there are no negotiations. Obama, by trying to kiss the Arabs' ass has made negotiations virtually impossible. Quite a brilliant foreign policy move. This is the most incompetent foreign policy team the US has had since Carter.

A view of Israel by an eminent Israeli, Noah Efron

‘No one holds a heroic view of Israel anymore, not abroad and not here. Today’s kibbutzim are not a source of national pride. In the past decade, dozens of them have “privatized,” dividing up what was common property (it took a Supreme Court ruling to stop kibbutzim from selling to developers valuable government-owned lands that had been lent to them for agriculture). Israel’s social gap is now considered among the greatest in the developed world. The most recent wave of immigrants, from the former Soviet Union, are largely disgruntled, and surveys suggest that a large percentage of them are not even Jews. Several of Israel’s large development projects have caused great harm to the local environment.

Israelis are unwelcome in African capitals. They are mostly unwelcome anywhere. And most important of all, Israel’s military excellence has been tested in a 20-year misadventure occupying southern Lebanon, and in laboriously maintaining the peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The disastrous last war in Lebanon, and the wrenching recent war in Gaza, won support by most Israelis, and censure by some, but together they have left little doubt that the country’s army is not heroic in the sense that it once was.

For all these reasons, to be a secular Israeli in 2009 is a demoralizing and demoralized affair. We are tired: tired of the Palestinians, tired of the bombs, tired of U.N. and EU condemnations, tired of having so much of our daily wages taxed to buy guns and missiles, tired of the army reserves, tired of being hated, tired of going to bed and waking up to reports of kids -- Jewish kids, Palestinian kids -- watching their parents die or dying in their parents’ arms. We are tired of our lives and tired of ourselves.’

Noah Efron is chair of the science, technology & society program at Bar-Ilan University and a member of Tel Aviv’s city council.

MJ:

Saying that "the President doesn't have to worry about the consensus of opinion in Israel" is childish. Your readers all know that the president can do whatever he wants to, within the law; he doesn't even have to worry about public opinion in the US if he chooses not to.

However, if Obama wants to accomplish his goal of securing a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, then he certainly does have to consider the views of Israelis, especially those held by all sectors of Israeli society, from right to left. If he ignores such views, he makes peace much less likely. (The same would be true of consensus views of the Palestinians.)

This is not the first time that I've seen in your posts a maximalist view of how to achieve results in the Middle East. This kind of maximalist approach unfortunately mirrors the extreme statements made by the radicals, on both sides, who are not interested in peace, and does not become you. I hope it's a rhetorical flourish, not what you actually believe.