Barack Obama may not be winning any popularity polls at home just now but in Israel his standing is even lower.
 
In fact he is reckoned to be the most unpopular US president since Israel’s founding in 1948.

Historically one of the US’s staunchest allies, there are almost as many Jews in America as there is in Israel, with two million plus living in New York alone, the relationship between the two has rarely been frostier. A new low came when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced 1300 new homes were to be built in East Jerusalem after the US had called for a moratorium on building as key component to getting the peace process back on track.

Even worse the announcement was made during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden.

The Americans called it ‘an insult’ and the Israel’s ambassador to Washington called the situation the biggest crisis facing the two countries in 30 years.

All in all it hasn’t been a great week for Israel’s international reputation. The UK was also having words with its Israeli ambassador before expelling a senior diplomat over the row about fake British passports being used by Mossad agents in the recent murder of a Hamas leader in Dubai.

But for a country that’s fought four wars for its very survival over the past 60 years it’s unlikely to be losing any sleep over its plummeting international image.
 
And this goes to the heart of the problem. The only country that has the clout to make Israel sit up and take notice is the USA who provides $US3 billion every year in military aid. That is almost a quarter of their entire defence budget. Threatening to cut this back would be the certain way to draw concessions from Israel over the house building in disputed areas and the whole question of a long term peace settlement being agreed with their Palestinian neighbours.

But this is the elephant in the room for Barak. Given his precarious standing domestically the last thing he needs to do is go upsetting the immensely powerful Israeli lobby led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Protection of Israel’s existence is a scared cow to them and such threats would be unthinkable.

The problem the US has in trying to broker a lasting peace deal in the Middle East at the moment is that neither side seems too interested in having talks. The Israelis keep building on disputed land with impunity and the Palestinians won’t talk until all building stops.

The longer this impasse goes on the more likely it is that the hard liners in the Palestinian camp will begin again pressing for a military solution however improbable the odds of victory might be. And the more likely it will be seen by the Israeli hard right that nobody can stop them building new settlements on occupied land wherever they please.

More worryingly for Israel though is that the Palestinians may just abandon the two state solution altogether and simply wait until they become the demographic majority in Israel itself, estimated to be around 2030, a nightmare scenario for the Israelis that would put a final end to the dream of a safe and stable Jewish homeland.

The man who promised to bring peace to the Middle East seems further away from his goal than ever.