Yeah, it is ALWAYS Israel's fault. The region's revolt by the OPPRESSED people of the ARAB states - is it ABOUT the pali "suffering and injustice"? Of course not STUPID. But according to the author, Israel is to be BLAMED for failing to come up with "a credible diplomatic plan for regional peace."

His efforts in North Korea, Iran, and the Middle East, have resulted in failures He bowed, kissed rings, kissed butts, it still did him no good Obama's stress will be on his re-election, nothing more, nothing less Unemployment in the USA will remain at near 10%, a new factor is that rampant inflation is already on hand The Emperor has no clothes !!

The best thing for America and Israel is for Obama to be removed from the presidency as soon as possible. Than Americans can begin to repair the immense damage Obama is causing to the U.S. economy, constitution etc. The second best thing is for Obama to ignore Israel and the MId East. The last thing Israel needs is a more active Obama regime. As for America, I'm afraid they are stuck with Obama's incompetence and socialist biases till 2012.

What is going in in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Tunisia, and elsewhere is that Arab leaders are lining their pockets with the people's national treasury. That has nothing to do with Israel and Ehud Barak should have made that point instead of being an obedient errand boy. Arab domestic decisions are the reason why the Middle East is going up in flames.

I would highly recommend you take a trip over to the West Bank and see how the Palestinians are suffering under occupation, and read up a little bit about settlement activity there. It's not always Israel's fault, but unfortunately it often is.

I'd say this article is "rubbish" if only I could find a coherent argument. But the author is all over the place - and usually wrong. Obama tried to do the impossible at the Security Council - avoid a one-sided slam at Israel while discouraging the Palestinians from doing an end-run around negotiations (and the needed compromises). He ended up casting that first veto (At last!), then had Rice "explain" the vote in a broadside slam at Israel for settlements - and issue reserved for Phase III of the Road Map, by the way. So he basically left everyone mad at him.

The American withdrawal will now leave the field open to the Europeans. They do not need the UN to apply sanctions. They do not need the USA. As long as we continue building illegal settlements, they will begin to apply economic sanctions against us. It will be a repeat performance of South Africa.

First, Obama is, and should be, concerned about his own status. His party got trounced in the last election, largely due to dissatisfaction with Obama himself. The democrats can't afford to lose the Jewish vote, and that is exactly what is happening. Second, due to the perception of Obama favoring the Arab nations, Israel has decided it's better to wait for the next elections to make peace. Israel will certainly get a better deal from a president like Bush than from Obama. Look, giving the Arabs back everything they lost in the last war is just an invitation for them to make war again. This time, let the Palestinians make the concessions ... acceptance of a Jewish state in Israel ... then we'll talk.

his mind, getting re-elected and whatever it takes he will do. Now he has to appeal to the rich Jews that were foolish enough to vote for him the first time. Lets hope they learned their lesson.

What world are they talking about? The only 'world' that is assaulting Israel is the world of the dark forces-Islamist-Jihadist and AntiSemite world. The Judeo-Christian world supports Israel. Obviously, Obama and Hillary do not know what they are talking about it. Obama is driven by his inbred AntiSemitism ideology. This is why he will loose in 2012 to any Republican/Tea Party Candidate. He has eroded America's economy and national security. Furthermore, he is an embarrassment to America. Congress should continue to defend America's national security interests and America's friends and allies from the menacing Islamist-Jihadist world hellbent on usurping the world, including Israel.

The "Palestinians" took one look at Obama, bowing and kowtowing to the muslim world, realised they were dealing with a fool and changed tactics by ignoring the Americans and turning to the UN. Their plan is to remove the US as a partner and replace them with the UN. Therefore all the renewal attempts at recognition of the "Palestinian State". The US on the other hand has no intention of handing the process over to the UN...at least not yet. Therefore the veto. What we see here is the muslim world self destructing. Since they no longer can compete with the rest of the world they turn to violence. Only question is who they will take down with them?

The suffering that you can 'see' from Singapore is an invention of your own mind. My neighbors are going about their business as usual. They go to work in the morning as usual. On weekends they do the same things anybody else would do. They visit and enjoy their day off. Such suffering..... And no I'm fine with them having a good time. Live and let live.

And if Islamic extremists take over most of the countries in the region, it will get even hotter.

No. 3, this American agrees with you completely.

When Obama took office he was perceived to try his upmost to create a confrontation between the US and its allies. He insulted the English and pushed the Israelis into the wall. What Obama was not expecting was two-fold. 1. the Israelis saw him as an annoyance they only had to wait out for three years (before Obama would be too busy electioneering) and 2. by being flexible they deprived him of the confrontation he was seeking. Once Obama pushing became not only obvious (diplomatic suicide) but forceful he got a push back from an unexpected source-Democratic legislators both Jewish and not. By this time Obama had climbed too high on a tree and by the time the "peace process" wad "renewed" not even the left leaning Israeli media could talk about it without an underline been-there-done-that and asking publicly, so how long before this farce blows up? They did not have to wait long. There was only one month before the self imposed freeze Israeli gesture to Obama ended, leaving not only that option closed, but also made Obama's goal less reachable but also embarrassing. Arabs do not want peace, they want pressure on Israel. And Israeli popularity is Europe is not in tatters, Jews were always hated there. Some historic perspective, it has not been that long.

The United States did not rush to veto the anti- Israel U.N. resolution. The Palestinians forced this upon them. Had they played the diplomatic game wisely the Palestinians would have had a unanimous condemnation of 'settlement activity'. The truth is the U.S. Administration is highly sympathetic to the Palestinians and has not really pressured them on anything. All the pressure has been on Israel. But the U.S. cannot afford to abandon its only true democratic Middle Eastern ally completely. As for the whole outbreak of protest and rebellion the Administration has to play it differently in different areas. Bahrain may not be a democratic paradise but it is an important American ally. It cannot be equated with Iran or even Libya In any case the story is far more complex, both internally and externally for America than this article suggests.

This article has it about half right. First, Obama will work hard to win in 2012. Secend ,he will not abandon his anti-Israel/ pro-Islam activities . He can't. It is built into him... Israel suffers from a lack of backbone. It should not bend and bow and wimper to every foreign attack. Israel must take a daily pro-active diplomatic stance. It has lost world support not because it hasn't bent enough but because it has bent TOO MUCH.

They didn't show up after Bibi recognized the two state solution. They didn't show up during the settlement freeze. And still Israel's de-legitimization persisted. It is hard to see on what basis the author suggests the pattern would magically be broken, by merely adding more concessions.

You, not Mr. Tan, should visit. In your visit you will see that the Arabs you call Palestinians have a better education, better health care and better future than any of their countrymen under Arab rule. But that has nothing to do with the problem. These people are descendants of illegal immigrants occupying Jewish land. They refuse any peaceful solution but demand extermination of the Jews. They, not Israel, are to blame.

Yes, BHO is equally hapless on domestic issues.

remember the arrogance of zeira, later the detachment of halutz,both in failing to undertstand the intelligence or what it would take to smash hezbollah. Now Barak is following in their footsteps in not running a crash program to fortify cities near gaza and in arranging sufficent iron dome batteries. Its irrlevant any more to ask him to do this or that. he has to booted out of office in favour of yaalon. barak has been running from chinese farm, from lebanon, from training accident, meekly responding to hamas, part of the order for paintball guns. He is a disaster, an absolute disaster. Bibi is an ignoramus not to recognize this. At one time, he may have been good at commando operations, but he has been a lousy land general. Mofaz for all warts is more game than barak who runs and runs for peace and avoids combat. Shalit is still rotting in gaza because barak has no fight left in him. Lieberman has to act as defence miinister in his placee.

in 63 years the palestinians have never forwarded a peace plan worth of the paper it was written on. They say one thing in public and another thing to their people. And the palestinian arabs have not convince anyone that they are worthy of governing. And it seems like there are no arabs worthy of governing anyone

is because of corrupt idiotic fanatical leadership of the palestinians that have led the palestinian arab population to the cesspool. NO OTHER REASON. Make PEACE with the Jews and your world will change. Throw away your weapons and your world will change. End your hatred of Jews. End your belief in islamic domination or that we are hurting arab pride. Arab pride is so disfigured that they are fighting for dignity all over arab/muslim countries. Arab leadership is as bad as the phony religious mullahs who know nothing about GOD's LOVE

AIPAC owns the US Congress. The Founding Fathers must be rolling in their graves. I feel very sorry for them.

It isn't only the Israeli leaders who may have their heads in cement. What about the 87% of American Jews who voted for Obama before, and who are likely to vote for him again?

I fully agree with you James. AIPAC is a sign that our democracy is completely faked. You can buy politics with money, even if these politics is against our national and moral interests. The problem is not AIPAC itself. The problem is the pseudo-democracy that we have. These people are destroying our democracy and harming our interests.

dear Dan, i have been following Israeli news for over 10 years, been to Israel (& Westbank 3 times), listened numbers orchestrated palis' tours round neighourhood comdamning Israelis too. But blinded eyes can't see, prejudiced ears can't hears, so advice you to see & listen with your heart, and God's Spirit guidance. the Pals government (Abbas & Fayyah & the late Arafat) has fat bank accounts oversea while arabs in the street rot, where has all the UN / EU fund gone to? many of these so call arabs "that stayed many years here" are actually descendants of arabs that flood in from neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, They are not descentants of fathers who came into Israel in search of prosperity after Jews cultivated the land NOT MORE THAN 100 YEARS. Arafat himself was an Egyptian! i am a christian who has arab christian friends, but the Spirit show me the truth, that these Arab christian who denied so many verses in the Bible can be very Bias, and we cannot trust them simply they are christians! Dan, talk to some Israelis too, and ask G-D to show you the truth! The Arabs in Palestine: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Arabs_in_Palestine.html toda, ynet.

The reason there have been no talks in the past two and half years is Abbas & Obama. Everybody loves to blame Bibi for all the worlds problems but fact is he is the one who has been making all the concessions. When Bibi became PM Abbas & Obama wanted to topple bring Livni to power so Abbas refused to talk. Bibi offers a ten month freeze to entice Abbas into talks but instead of saying lets start talking he said a freeze is not enough I have other conditions as well. So for nine months nothing happens. In the final month for image purposes Abbas agrees to talk knowing the freeze will end in a month and he can walk away again but this time as the good guy. Abbas has no lost touch with reality and just wants to be seen as the hard man of the arab world so he does nothing except moan and refuse to compromise. Obama spent his first year trying to topple Bibi and make the muslims like him so he kept picking fights with Israel. The muslims approve of and hopefully it causes enough friction to split the coalition then Obama builds up Livni's image make her electable as the one who can fix all the problems Bibi created. When Obama realized it was better to work with Bibi than against him he still refused to force Abbas into joining the real world. Telling Abbas what to do looks like bullying to the islamic world. So Obama just made speeches about his commitment to the peace process while Abbas refused to talk. All he needed to do was tell Abbas I am on your side, but I am laying down the rules here and you play by them or I want nothing to do with you. We would have never had this UN vote because between Abbas & Obama they would have got major concessions from Bibi including a freeze. Obama obsession with muslims made him weak and the only one he ever had the courage to stand up to was Israel and now thats backfired. No talks or serous prospects of them in the short term. Soon Obama will have to dedicate his time to his election campaign and domestic issues so no time to take part in conducting negotiations. Now Obamas worst nightmare has happened and he has been forced to veto a resolution condemning settlements. The result is everything Obama has worked for has come tumbling down just like his healthcare package will if the Supreme Court votes it unconstitutional. Its also impossible to find a regional solution right now considering nobody knows who is going to be running what country from one day to the next and until we have stability nothing can be done.