Vice President Biden changed the pace of the dance in the Middle East considerably today at Tel Aviv University.

He made a signal speech in which he linked the Iranian nuclear crisis with forming two states out of Israel, one Jewish and one Palestinian.

“We are determined to keep the pressure on Iran so that it will change its course. And as we do, we will also be seeking to improve relations between the Israelis and Palestinians. They are connected indirectly, but there is a relationship. We call on Arab states who share a mutual concern about Iran — we call on Arab states to support the effort to bring peace between Palestinians and the Israelis, and to take their own steps forward for peace with Israel.”

This new stance of the Obama Administration is the first time that the United States has linked the two problems. Now they say that the solution for the Iranian nuclear crisis resides in the solution of the problems between Israel and the Arabs.

What’s the problem with that?

The “Palestinian Question” has been smack dab in the middle of the world’s major problems since before 1948. We are no closer to a solution now than we were in 1948. Perhaps we are actually much further away. And yet the Obama Administration thinks it can orate a solution in a few weeks.

What chutzpah!
(Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as “gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible ‘guts,’ presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to.”)

The chances of it happening, with the primary parties and other ’stakeholder’ nations all pulling back from the heavy shoving of the United States… are slim at best.

To say that it is a necessary part of the solution for the Iranian nuclear crisis is hitching the Obama Administration’s Middle East policy to a falling star.

It’s going for broke on a 1,000,000 to 1 shot.

I suppose that actually makes sense in a way, though.

If the de facto gasoline sanctions against Iran are not working… and they are not working… then what is there short of a naval blockade or military strike?

Peace in the Middle East. A chimera that has eluded the world for many decades.

Good luck.