So far, Barack Obama is ahead in the public duel of words with Benjamin Netanyahu. The U.S. President has made it clear that, unlike his predecessor, he'll actively pursue a Palestinian state. The Israeli Prime Minister doesn't believe this is in his country's interest but, painfully aware of the new reality in Washington, he's reluctantly stated that “a Palestinian state” is a future possibility.
Israeli prime ministers pay domestically when they blatantly ignore American pressure, but Mr. Obama also has limited manoeuvring room. As rhetoric gives way to action, they'll need to find a “win-win” formula. Six decades of U.S.-Israel relations provide ample examples, ranging from defiance to compliance, of Israeli responses to American demands, and Mr. Netanyahu carries a personal lesson from his first troubled term as prime minister. In the mid-nineties, pressed by the Clinton White House, he agreed to withdraw from 13 per cent of the West Bank but failed to carry out the commitment and, given his other weaknesses, was defeated at the polls.
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