Will The U.S. Begin To Turn Away From Israel?

At the Nixon Center's "National Interest," Jacob Heilbrunn thinks it unlikely that the Obama administration will take the political risk of trying to impose a peace settlement on Israel and the Palestinians, as suggested by his blogging colleague Paul Pillar. Instead, Heilbrunn predicts that Obama will adopt the posture of all too many of his predecessors when it comes to the world's most intractable dispute -- benign neglect:

In the Middle East the Israeli government may think that it's holding the upper hand over Obama. Paradoxically, however, I think that Benjamin Netanyahu is miscalculating. The Obama administration will pull back from the conflict, in essence washing its hands of Israel. But this can't be good for Israel. 2011 may mark the year when he United States began to turn away from Israel, not in anger but simply resignation.