Echoing the point made by Sheera Frenkel below, here is an interesting column by MJ Rosenberg at Mediamatters, appealing for the two-state solution, and saying that Netanyahu can deliver it, not Obama, because, well, Obama is bought and paid for. Rosenberg is blunt about the fact that Netanyahu is more powerful politically than Obama here, because he has such a base in the American Congress and the donor base of the Democratic party. No wonder Chas Freeman talks about political "pathologies."
[Obama] cannot achieve an agreement without putting pressure on both sides, and particularly on Netanyahu who, after all, holds all the cards (plus all the territory).
But Netanyahu knows that if Obama applies pressure on him, the President will outrage even his Democratic allies in Congress. Lobby-led Representatives and Senators (Democrats as much as Republicans) will oppose asking Netanyahu to do anything he does not want to do. (Count on the donors, the lobby and the Israeli embassy to organize the opposition.)
This applies to any territorial concession Netanyahu might be asked to make. It even applies to an Israeli attack on Iran which, should it come, would have the enthusiastic support of some of the most liberal, anti-war Democrats (let alone Republicans). That is certainly true just prior to an election, but it is also true when an election is two years away. The lobby owns this issue, not the President.
And that is why, in the end, we have to hope that Netanyahu has finally come to understand that the occupation poses an existential threat to Israel as a Jewish state.
If Netanyahu has actually come around to that understanding (as Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert seemed to), it is possible — even probable — that progress will be made.
After all, Netanyahu can deliver the lobby and, with it, Congress.
