The Financial Times is one of the strongest global papers on the Middle East conflict. Less spin, more truth telling.
Key writer David Gardiner thinks that Barack Obama still has a few cards up his sleeve (this presumes, of course, that Washington actually has any desire to truly pressure Israel and that ain’t clear):
Israelis have a record of turning against leaders who place the vital US alliance in jeopardy: Menachem Begin learnt this, Yitzhak Shamir learnt this and so, to a limited extent, did Mr Netanyahu, when he was voted out of office in 1999.
Vital to that alliance is US support in the UN Security Council, where it has cast 29 vetoes to shield Israel from condemnation for its actions in the occupied territories. Imagine the signal the US would send were it even to abstain. Or, better still, if the US and its allies took a blueprint for a two-state solution – the outlines of which have long been clear – to the council and voted it through. This game is not over yet.