... as are a great many Americans; his approval rating is down some 35 percentage points since he was elected. On the subject of the Middle East --- who the hell is Obama to tell the head of state of a sovereign nation what to do? He has every right to order around Abbas, but not Netanyahu. Somehow, I think that Obama applied far more pressure on Netanyahu than to Abbas. I think that the best possible response that the State of Israel can make is to build more settlements in Judea and Samaria. Settlement building should continue at an accelerated pace until Abbas repudiates the Fatah charter and openly recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in its ancient homeland. There can be no negotiating until this simple requirement is met.

It doesn't matter what mountain. If he were worth a grain of salt...he would be building nuclear plants...making mandatory electric vehicles.....and getting us off the oil in the first place. Then this wouldn't be the United States problem anymore.

The settlements are not illegal. The territory to which you refer was acquired in 1967, when Israel defeated Jordan in a war which Jordan initiated. Under the Hague Second and Third Conventions, Israel's territorial acquisition is therefore fully legal. Israel has the right to settle the territories, and the Third Hague Convention strongly implies that Israel may deport the Palestinians to Jordan, as the Palestinians were all Jordanian citizens at the time Israel conquered Jordan. Just a quick question: when is Norway going to allow the Soma people to form their own nation, as they have wanted for several hundred years? An independent Parliament does not seem to be quite what the Soma wanted, now, is it? Duh.

Good for you! Stand tall with your country and it's right it to govern it's self.Israel has much to be proud of.I too, am fed up with Obama.The American people have found ourselves in a most alarming situation with the governing of our country.There is much to be worried about. Please know that Obama does not speak for every American.We still have our right to vote and freedom of speech.This to may pass.

The only reason he is grumpy today is because letterman pissed the guy off the night before. He should not have gone on a talk / comedy show before makeing large speeches to the worlds leaders. He is pissed also of the rateings he has gotten and because of his own personel build up he is tripping over his own feet , and now his rateings are going to drop lower, he needs to watch out for these scenarios where big headlines are at hand and not try to be to smart about it, afterall every opportunity shot counts in the US.

i too am fed up with obama, and his know it all attitude...get real man...he is making our country into a haven for the likes of chavez, ahmadinejad, and qaddaffi.

like a spoiled child--what has he actually done or achieved?

for posting!

pardoned en masse but you have not been. That makes me so angry and I don't know what to do to get justice for Jews with so much mercy for murderous Palestinians and so little for Jews.

Israel has a strong but small army but there are only about 7M Jews in Israel. It has a tech and nuclear edge but that maybe gone soon if Iran is aloud to continue. Most of Israel's business are heavly leveraged inorder to compete in the world market. Without the large foreign investment and loan guarantees (60B per year), Israel would be hard pressed to afford its current level of military, not counting the 3B from US in military aid and fuel. While Israel currently has the strongest and best trained military in the ME, it is still far from a world power. South Africa learned that world pressure could cripple it without a strong ally.

good selllary after he will be gane: Villa in Arabia, etc He is doing very wel. What else the very poor boy from Kenya can dream of?

It isn't the quantity of soldiers in the fight, but rather the quality of the fight in the soldier. In that regard, how many countries do you know of that were victorious in a war which had three fronts? The United States -- despite its might and technological superiority -- got beaten back by a bunch of tiny men in black pajamas (Vietnam). The United States -- again despite its might and technological superiority -- was thoroughly humiliated by a handful of barefoot warlords using ancient rocket propelled grenade launches and vintage World War II Garand rifles. For that matter, the United States is not doing all that well in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israel may be small, but there is no better military in the world. May I remind you of the rescue of the hostages in Entebbe, the destruction of the Osirac reactor, the destruction of the fledgling reactor in Syria, the destruction of the arms convoy in the Sudan, and the sinking of not one, but two Iranian container vessels bearing arms intended for Hamas and the successful interdiction of two other vessels, also laden with arms intended for Iran's terrorist proxies? Contemplate those, and then contemplate the fiasco of the attempted rescue of the US hostages in Iran, which ended in dismal failure. The only military successes the United States can claim since the end of World War II are Granada and Panama. Wow. Why am I not terribly impressed?

What Don’t The Majority Of Americans Agree With? 1) The Stimulus Package. 2) Health Care 3) Cap On Trade 4) Cash For Clunkers 5) Afghanistan 6) Iran 7) The Betrayal Of Poland And The Czech Republic. Only 35% of Americans now say that the U.S. is heading in the right direction, 59% say they are angrier now than under Bush, and 67% say that they could do a better job on the economy than Congress. http://tinyurl.com/outofhisdepth Jane

Nearly all of the posts to this story are missing the big point, that the Israeli Government and the PA are too wrapped up in their own agendas to see the big picture. There will be two states, with or without Bibi or Abbas. There is now, and has been in the past, a wonderfulopportunity to make history here, with backing from someone who is willing to risk low approval ratings in the interest of doing the right thing. Obama is absolutely right in trying to move this agenda forward, he is absolutely right to put the pressure that only the US can bring to bear on them. The analogy of school children getting a failing grade for their work thus far is perfect, and i commend the author of this opinion piece. There will be two states, there will be prosperity in both of them, and yes, there will always be factions who dont agree and try to de-rail progress. There will also be nay-sayers who deride the progress, and kudos to Obama for wading through the bull, and pressing on with the agenda, because he, unlike the majority of the talkbackers in this thread, sees the big picture, and sees the possibility of a brighter and better future, where the stain of Israeli/Palestinian conflict no longer provides the backdrop for global terrorism.

Jane, please get real. Your list is a joke and is republican sponsored propaganda designed to polarize the USA. Its not productive, and you are gullible if you believe it.

Israel is a very small country with few natural resources.It is too small to be a proper power,even Hizbullah gave Israel a very tough time recently.

Man (Obama.) He is just looking out for his own welfare,after all ..when the american people become "FED UP " and turn against him he will need a safe haven and friends e.g. Chavez,Ahmadinejad...

From your post you have little knowledge of what technology is. The fact you say that Iran will equal Israel when it gets the bomb shows your ignorance. Techbology is not just producing a bomb, Technology is producing methods of defeating the bomb, technology is acurrate delivery systems, techknowledgy is Inteligence, on and on and on. If you think Iran has any of this besides the potential to build a bomd you are more nieve then I thought. Israels defense may not stop a hundred Bombs incomining , but with the five backup systems they have already it will take care of the two or three Iran may develope. What happens then. Subs off Irans Coast, Cruise missels, Rockets, yes Israel also has long range missels with a lot better delivery systems then Iran has now returns fire Iran will have to depend on Russia selling it more material but by that time it may be destroyed. If rumor is true Israels backup is enough to destroy everything in Iran including its only source of revenue the oil fields. What makes you think the US will not be a strong ally. When they took out Osirik and the world objected where were the Ally's. After the fact they became strong allys.

Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are fully legal, because Israel acquired Judea and Samaria while fighting a defensive war against Jordan. The Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria were citizens of Jordan at the time Israel acquired the territory. The Hague Third Convention strongly implies that Israel has the right to deport them all to Jordan. The United Nations does not have the right to confer statehood. You might want to consider doing a little research before you spout ridiculous comments. Unless you particularly like being a laughingstock -- your call.

I am also fed up.Lots of people are fed up.What can you do? that's life.

The Obama administration is the most Pro-Arab and extreme radically leftist regime in American history. Obama sat for 20 years listening to the pastor of his church spew Anti-Semitic hate. Obama is personal friends with a PLO Terrorist spokesman and to this day the leftist Los Angeles Times refuses to release the video of Obama's speech several years ago at a dinner held honoring this PLO terrorist. Obama to this day still says that he willing to talk to the genocidal leader of Iran who denies the Holocaust and wants to build the Bomb to finish Hitler's job. Clearly it would be insane for Netanyahu to cave in Obama's pressure tactics and to freeze "Jewish Settlements" this would only invite even more pressure on the part of Obama for Israel to make additional suicidal concessions. Instead Netanyahu should tell Obama to get lost by accelerating the building of Jewish settlements. See the blog called WWW.AMERICANJEWSAGAINSTOBAMA.BLOGSPOT.COM for more about Obama's Pro-Arab agenda.

Hello Sarah If the settlements are illegal or not, according to whom you ask - is an issue without an answer. This link to a 60-minutes documentary tries to focus on the problem: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752349n Soma is a drug described in Huxley's Brave New World... The Sámi people howevere - are the indigenous people of Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and some part of Russia. Norway has a brutal history with the sámi people, forcing them to give up their religion, introducing them to alcohol, forcing another language upon them - and in extreme cases; chopping their heads off and displaying them at the university in Oslo. The situation is a bit different nowadays you might say. But it is funny that you mention the Sámi. I guess it is to put it in context with the arabs in palestine (or the jews?) As to my knowledge - non of whom are part of any indigenous group. Alot of the hostility towards the Sámi was conducted by Finnish immigrants (the Kvens) - as a result of them being "in the middle" of the hierarchy - and the sámi on the bottom... As in Israel's case, I guess that newly arrived settlers from around the globe tend to be more agressive towards the weaker part. Norway's "been there - done that". Israel is just not done yet. Sámi parliament: http://www.samediggi.no/artikkel.aspx?AId=884&back=1&MId1=270 If you like to know more about the sámi people, look here: http://www.sami.uit.no/pub/indexen.html

Thank you for the clarification. Actually, the Sami people compare rather well to Palestinians in one respect you overlooked -- they are both your quintessential nomads, with no real concept of land ownership. Thank you again; I shall visit the links you were kind enough to post.

Enjoying the results of allowing ever more Muslims to colonize Norway? I hear your country is, like the bonehead Swedes, experiencing ever higher rates of crime & rape. Appreciate how they despise & refuse to adopt the culture & values of Norway? Like your ever growing no. of alien dependents on the dole? Special times ahead for you & your fellow Norwegians. Are you honestly ready for it? Keep digging that hole deeper, John.

it seem to me, that to him this is just a big game, and he hit the jackpot. he is a nice, smart, wellspoken person, makes a great "community organizer", not THE PRESIDENT of the greatest country on earth. sinse mr obama seem to taken sides, israel must stand up for it's interest. my american stepbrothers, when you make a booboo, you make a world class one. but i still love you all :))

Bravo, Sussan! The most of Americans understand their mistake!