via Goldberg to Haaretz: Obama using visit to ‘create the space to combat Israeli policy’ – Obama visits Israel Israel News | Haaretz.

Obama is leaving the “bad cop” role to his secretary of state, John Kerry, who will remain in the region to nag Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about resuming the diplomatic process. Kerry needs no grooming for this task; he is totally familiar with all the details of the negotiations Israel has held in the past with the Palestinians and with Syria.

This time, however, he isn’t here as an observer, as was the case when he was a senator; now he is the responsible intermediary. If he succeeds in making progress, he will fill his president’s Nobel Prize with some content. If he fails, as did his predecessors, he will be blamed. Obama will already be busy with other things,

via President’s visit marks the end to Israeli isolationism – Opinion – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

The president and his advisors do not really believe Netanyahu and are not concealing their suspicion towards him. But as far as they are concerned, Netanyahu actually lost the recent elections and will therefore do whatever is asked of him. He has no choice.

Obama is coming in order to apply pressure on Netanyahu’s weak point after the people of Israel have spoken and after America’s fear that Israel was shifting to the right proved to be, for the most part, unfounded.

After winning the hearts of the people, Obama will get down to business. His mission: Renew the alliance with the Israeli public and clarify to Netanyahu that playtime is over. He does not intend to let up until white smoke appears.

via There’s no such thing as a free lunch – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Kerry is focused, say those who have spoken to him about the Middle East, and about Israel in particular.

“So much of what we aspire to achieve and what we need to do globally, what we need to do in the Maghreb and South Asia, South Central Asia, throughout the Gulf, all of this is tied to what can or doesn’t happen with respect to Israel-Palestine,” he said at his confirmation hearing. “And in some places it’s used as an excuse. In other places it’s a genuine, deeply felt challenge.”

Kerry also believes that time is running out on the two-state solution. “We need to try to find a way forward, and I happen to believe that there is a way forward,” Kerry said just a few days before his appointment was confirmed.

“But I also believe that if we can’t be successful that the door, or window, or whatever you want to call it, to the possibility of a two-state solution could shut on everybody and that would be disastrous in my judgment.”

via Kerry determined to resolve conflict – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Even though there is a positive dimension to a visit by an American president to Ramallah and Bethlehem, after the recognition in the United Nations of Palestine as a non-member state, Barghouti also noted a number of negative aspects to the visit, in his opinion: While Obama will place a wreath on the grave of Yitzhak Rabin, he will not include in his Ramallah itinerary the grave of Yasser Arafat.

Obama also refused to meet with the daughter of a Palestinian prisoner, and he will visit the Israel Museum, where archaeological finds stolen from the Palestinian territories are exhibited, said Barghouti.

via Palestinian Authority sends opposition figure to deliver rebuke of Obama – Diplomacy & Defense – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

That cynical view of the purposes of the Obama White House overlooks one critical objective that the president can achieve on this visit. He can reintroduce himself to the Israeli public as the American leader who does care deeply about their security and well-being, will be – as he has already been – in the trenches with them when the chips are down, means what he says when he vows that he will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, AND will be their reliable partner in the effort to resolve their existential conflict with the Palestinians.

via Resurrecting Obama’s reputation in the Middle East – Opinion – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

What then is left for a visiting President to do? Some cling to the notion that more American assurances and carrots will encourage Israel on the road to peace. That is farcical. The juiciest economic, military and diplomatic carrots have already been conferred on Israel irrespective of its entrenchment of occupation or violations of international law. No American carrot will induce Naftali Bennett or Uri Ariel, or Netanyahu and his faction of annexationists to abandon the settlements. So if the President is unwilling to change the rules of the game, better that he go with the flow, that he embrace and own the primacy of the political in this relationship. He can dust-off and re-tool part of the Clinton playbook of the 1990’s for engineering Israeli politics.

And that is probably what Obama’s visit should and in fact may start to do. By speaking directly to Israelis, including at an especially convened event in Jerusalem, Obama is doing something he avoided in his first term: He is accumulating some personal credit in the bank with the Israeli public. He should be looking to create an opportunity during his second term to draw on that deposit by building toward a clear moment of decision for Israel on the terms of reference for a two-state deal, notably a territorial resolution based on the 1967 lines with equal and minimal land swaps.

via Obama’ visit: Embrace the victory of politics over substance – Opinion – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

via Israeli leftists, stop fantasizing – Opinion – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

Obama emphasized that his intention was not to deliver a “grand peace plan,” according to a person who attended the hourlong private meeting at the White House. But the president said that doesn’t preclude him from launching such an effort in the coming months, the person said, and made clear that peace with the Palestinians was the only way for Israel to achieve long-term security.

via Ahead of Israel visit, Obama tells US Jewish leaders prospects for Mideast peace are bleak – The Washington Post.

 If Netanyahu wants to be remembered as more than a do-nothing prime minister, and if Obama wants to avoid being the American president on whose watch Iran gets the bomb and the two-state solution expires, they’ll have to cooperate. 

via One meeting won’t fix things between Obama and Netanyahu. Here’s what might. – The Washington Post.