Reid breaks with Obama on Israeli borders condition for peace settlement - Mike Lillis

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/162843-reid-breaks-with-obama-on-israeli-borders-condition-

I'm not of the philosophy that each party needs full partisan loyalty to each and every facet of their political universe. There should be some diversity within a party, there needs to be. What is really desperately needed though, is for Israel to take steps towards an agreement, whatever the preconditions.

There are some uncomfortable truths bubbling around this little snit:
1. The Arab Spring is not finished and in the end will move in unpredictable ways. Egypt, a country that was not quite an ally of Israel but predictably at peace, has been swept away and may return to the days when the border with Israel was "hot". Others may follow.
2. Hamas is legitimized and is forming a unity government with Fatah. Hamas is now an institution and not a militia, making it harder to stamp out or marginalize. Their views may moderate a bit, but as long as they are in power, Israel is not safe.
3. The US may not be able to sway events like it once did. A decade of attrition warfare and the financial tide going out have left the US with some difficult choices. In the coming decades, as Obama stated, we cannot predict where this will take us. Israel's dependency on the US will need to be reexamined by both parties.
4. Iran has seized the mantle of regional power. Apparently impervious to the Arab Spring for now, they will prop up a weakened Syria, exacting demands from them at the expense of Israel. With Egypt in turmoil, a moderating power is no longer there to counter-balance Iran, leaving them free to meddle where they please. One could argue that confrontation is a wise short-term strategy to hold off reform, to rally their population around them.

This is the point of many pundits in the past few days: Israel should not grovel before the United States, but as an ally upon whom their survival has been and continues to be dependent upon, is a little respect too much to ask?