Joel Brinkley is optimistic but concerned. The situation in Palestine is promising:

All of a sudden, many of the pieces have fallen into place that might allow meaningful negotiations to settle the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

Hamas is quiescent - for now. Most West Bank Palestinians are tired of the conflict and simply want a settlement that would offer the chance for peace and prosperity.

And Iran is the new bogeyman for much of the Arab world, taking a bit of pressure off of Israel. But one large obstacle still stands in the way: Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister

Who has, it appears, gone out of his way to alienate the administration by adding new, unacceptable, preconditions to any negotiations with the Palestinians:

Finally, under immense pressure from Washington, Netanyahu offered a bone. In June, he said he would be willing "to reach a solution where a demilitarized Palestinian state exists alongside the Jewish state." Over a two-decade political career, he had never said that before. But when Netanyahu finally uttered the words, the offer was larded with so many preconditions that it was essentially worthless.

At the same time Netanyahu has been careful to build good personal relations with key players in the administration:

While tossing that stink bomb onto the negotiating table, Netanyahu is also insulting White House officials - simply because they do not hold his right-wing views. In internal office discussions, he called Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, and David Axelrod, a senior adviser, "self-hating Jews," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Which leaves Israel with very little sympathy in Washington at this point. No one, after all, ever accused Mr Emmanuel of being a turn the other cheek kind of guy.

For Joel Brinkley the solution to this whole problem is simple. The Israelis have elected an obnoxious and belligerent twerp who is seeking to redefine long standing US policy in the region and who has gone out of his way to offend potential friends because?

Because they feel insecure:

Obama, unlike Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, is not regarded as a particular friend of Israel. Since taking office, he has visited 15 states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He gave an important speech in Cairo. But he has not set foot in Israel - a fact that is the subject of frequent negative comment in Israeli newspapers and on TV. At the same time, his effort to engage Iran unnerves Israelis; many of them want to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.

If we just show them some love, and maybe let them have a little raid or two on Iran, things will get back to normal. We can continue to have endless negotiations and expansion of settlements, broken up by occasional unprovoked attacks on Palestinian civilians neighboring states. Liberal Israelis and Joel Brinkley will be able to feel good about themselves because their nation is negotiating for "peace" but they will never have to take a stand against the settler thugs who are subsidized by their government. The US will continue to foot the bill.

Is it too much to ask us to accommodate the insecurities of the Israelis? See how they suffer!