Obama's poll numbers in Israel too low to broker a peace?

Reuters:

U.S. President Barack Obama needs to get his poll numbers up -- in Israel -- if he hopes to make peace between Israelis and Palestinians, a senior Israeli official said Wednesday.

Obama, who has made outreach to the Muslim world a feature of his presidency, has left many Israelis skeptical about his support for the Jewish state, particularly in comparison to his predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

"We are literally taking the security future of our families, our kids, and placing it in the hands of the president of the United States and that's no small thing," said the Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Trust is an essential component of the peace process," he added, saying Israel ultimately looked to the U.S. president for support should it strike peace deals with the Palestinians or other Arab states that later unravel.

A poll released in August found only four percent of Israelis viewed Obama's policies as "more pro-Israel" versus "more pro-Palestinian" or neutral. A survey made public in December gave Obama a 41 percent favorable rating among Israelis.

...

I am surprised his poll numbers were that high in December, but the 41 percent is not much worse than his current numbers in the US where he is having trouble trying to broker a health care agreement.

However, the real problem in the search for a Middle East peace agreement is that the Palestinians are not really that interested and they have nothing of value to offer the Israelis in return. They can't really offer peace because they lack the will or the means to stop other Palestinians from attempting to kill Israelis.

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