Will Obama Make Netanyahu Pay for Historic Aid Deal at the UN Security Council?

"... U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice... in her speech at the signing ceremony [of a new 10-year security assistance Memorandum of Understanding providing $3.8 billion per year to Israel for military defense], mentioned the Palestinian issue and the need to advance the two-state solution as a central component of Israel's security... [A] press statement issued by U.S. President Barack Obama ... made an even clearer link between the aid package and the peace process.

'It is because of this same commitment to Israel and its long-term security that we will also continue to press for a two-state solution to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite the deeply troubling trends on the ground that undermine this goal,' Obama said. 'As I have emphasized previously, the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable Palestine...'

This was Obama's first public statement on the Israeli-Palestinian issue after many months in which he avoided it like the plague. It's hard to believe that this was coincidental... From Obama's words, one can understand that the aid pact is one side of the coin with regard to his legacy on Israel. The other side may yet turn out to be a move on the Palestinian issue before his term ends on January 20...

Obama's announcement and the connection he made to the Palestinian issue reinforces Netanyahu's pessimistic scenarios regarding moves the American president may make immediately after the U.S. elections in November.

Will it be a presidential address in which he presents his outline of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement? Will it be a UN Security Council resolution that sets down these principles? Perhaps both? ... Obama's words are evidence that these question marks are liable to become exclamation points very soon..."