Obama has been pretending that Israel is the party that has been refusing to negotiate or make concessions (I guess that means we are being Alinsky-ed).  Now he's demanding that the Israeli gov't form a detailed written summary of its negotiating position, which the US will present to the PA and the Arab League for review.

What comes after that is not clear, but probably a multilateral bludgeoning for concessions - including concessions on the refugee issue.  All the while Abbas can sit back and enjoy some photo ops and have Obama do the work for him.  No need for him to negotiate, make concessions, or commit to peace and coexistence.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=171738
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3867825,00.html

It's quite tiresome to read these bien-pensants like Robert Wright talk about how Obama is actually being pro-Israel by castigating us and pandering to the demands of the PA for unilateral concessions.  Though I think that's simply what media does these days is apologize for their great leader - especially now that he seems powerful due to the healthcare victory.

For an illustration of how facts really don't matter anymore (for lots of people anyway), read this article and look at the comments.

Bibi has partially caved and is going to talk to the Palestinians about refugees and the status Jerusalem while the Palestinians will not even agree to sit in the same room as Israeli negotiators.  Also to "slow down" building in Jerusalem (though Arab neighborhoods in the capital won't be slowed down of course).

In 2002, the suicide bombings scared people a lot.  I'm more scared now.

In the space of a week, the Americans changed the status quo on Jerusalem for no obvious reason.

We don't know what is motivating Obama so there is ample reason to think that he might drop some more policy bombshells like:  allowing the Palestinians to forgo formal recognition of Israel,  demanding that Israel settle large numbers of Palestinians into its pre-67 borders.

We do know that Obama has no interest in the attempts at persuasion that characterized the Clinton era.  No appeals to Israeli citizens, "taking risks for peace", "peace of the brave" etc. etc.

David Hazony at the Contentions blog posted some background on the weird Haaretz poll that claimed that Israelis view Obama as fair and friendly.

One of the newspapers here featured a long weekend section titled "What does Obama really want?" with essays by various authors.  One theme was comparisons to previous American administrations - this misses the point it seems to me.  Obama wants to be Mr. Year Zero so to understand his approach to the Middle East it's necessary first of all to look at how he is approaching healthcare, Honduras etc.

Who aside from Obama is actually formulating the new American policies?  Hilary, Biden, and Mitchell?   Probably not.  Is Samantha Power in the picture?