It's looking bleak in the Middle East

Everyone agrees about the Middle East today.

Everyone agrees that peace looks remote as ever and that the process has all but completely collapsed. The Obama administration is strengthening precisely the wrong people as it proceeds with its clumsy efforts to produce peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It's a sad spectacle.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power with minimal popular support. In fact, last March more people voted for his main rival, the Kadima party led by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, a fervent advocate of Israel's need to make painful compromises for the sake of peace with Palestinians.

President Obama's misguided efforts have created such a sense of anxiety among Israelis that Washington is weakening moderates, strengthening hardliners and pushing the prospects for peace further out of reach.

Netanyahu is enjoying a surge in popularity at home as Israelis look for a strong leader in the face of confusing moves from Washington, combined with the looming threat from an Iran that continues arming the likes of Hezbollah.

On the Palestinian side, Washington's actions have proven just as pernicious. The Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas has become paralyzed as a direct result of Obama's actions. Obama's loud demands on Israel have more than hardened Palestinian positions. They have created demands unlike any the Palestinians had made since the start of negotiations. While once the P.A. wanted U.S. officials to pressure Israel to negotiate, now Abbas simply refuses to talk to Israel unless it gives in, before sitting down to talk, to demands that Abbas well knows would bring down Netanyahu's government. Now Abbas threatens to resign.

Hamas, the mortal enemy of Abbas and his Fatah party, says Fatah should acknowledge negotiations have failed and only its brand of violence, known in much of the world as terrorism, will do the job. Meanwhile, Arab countries have bluntly rejected Obama's request that they make minuscule conciliatory gestures toward Israel.

Trying to work its way out of the box, Washington praised Netanyahu's steps towards limiting settlement growth. The Arabs cried foul, furious at the United States for backing down. Everyone is angry and disappointed with the Americans.

Obama has lost his mojo in the Middle East. Nobody listens to him, nobody trusts him. A poll found 70 percent of Palestinians have a negative view of the U.S. president. His standing in Israel is no better.

It is extraordinary that this is happening even as majorities of both Israelis and Palestinians offer strong support for the two-state solution. The War & Peace Index poll showed that a record 75 percent of Israelis support negotiations, but that 68 percent of Israelis also say Obama is not likely to preserve Israel's interests in the long run.

Israeli majorities have consistently stood in favor of the creation of a Palestinian state. But Obama seems determined to highlight the precise areas of most passionate disagreement, complicating the situation.

The most recent public disagreement came after Israel approved construction of hundreds of homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. The Israeli decision is unhelpful.

The White House's reaction is even more damaging. The White House insists on equating East Jerusalem construction with West Bank settlements. That is a profoundly counterproductive misreading of reality.

Israelis are willing to give up the West Bank, but they view all of Jerusalem as their capital. East Jerusalem could eventually be on the negotiating agenda. But Obama's reactions are convincing Israelis that they cannot trust him. And in a democratic country, public opinion can make or break a deal.

If Israelis don't believe they can trust Washington, they will retrench and do all they can to protect themselves. They will resist taking risks for peace and support hardliners. If the Palestinians don't think Washington will protect Israel, they will revert to the view, still held by Hamas and Iran, that Israel can and should be destroyed.