The Huffington Post is all abuzz over a new poll conducted in Israel and the Palestinian territories by a London based leftist group which found that President Obama is regarded by most Israelis as more trustworthy than Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and that a large majority of Israelis and Palestinians want Obama to get actively involved to solve the terrible conflict between them. However, the pollster Paul Hilder, of Avaaz.org, draws the wrong conclusions from his polls, wrongly believing that they signal an unprecedented opportunity to resolve the conflict and that Obama is the man who can do it-the right man at the right time in history to bring peace (see Hilder's
Why Israelis Trust Obama More Than Bibi Netanyahu).
What is wrong with this interpretation is that Israelis’ confidence in Obama over Netanyahu, 59% to 31%, is most likely due to the belief that his Moslem family roots and Arabic middle name would give him a huge diplomatic edge over Netanyahu in persuading the Palestinians to accept the reality of the Jewish state, to abandon their jihad against her and drop the demand for a right of return of Palestinian refugees. In fact, this poll is less a reflection on Netanyahu’s untrustworthiness than on the powerlessness of any Jewish PM to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough of this kind.
Moreover, if Palestinians who overwhelmingly reject Israel’s right to exist want Obama to get actively involved as a broker in new peace talks it's because they may view his Moslem roots as something propitious and lucky for them; they may see him as a Godsend, as Allah's tool for weakening Israel’s security through new land concessions while giving nothing in return except empty promises of abandoning violence and accepting Israel’s existence, just as Arafat did.
In short, if Obama tries to tackle this intractable problem and dares go down this dangerous path it will end up in hell like the Oslo Accords, a roadmap to bloodshed and ruin. In the absence of a peace partner, a Palestinian Anwar Sadat, when it comes to Israel's conflict with this people talk like Bill Clinton, walk like George Bush is the best way for a leader to go.