Pressed on Palestinian state, Netanyahu changes the subject – to Iran

Ahead of his Monday meeting with Obama, who supports a two-state solution, the Israeli prime minister wants to make Iran's nuclear ambitions the focus of regional diplomacy.

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"The problem now is with Israel, on the one hand, because there is no Israeli partner in the peace process," says Oraib al-Rantawi, director of the Al-Quds Center for Political Studies in Amman, referring to Netanyahu's hard-line stance. "On the other hand, there is a Palestinian division between Fatah and Hamas, Gaza and the West Bank."

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Obama is expected to announce a new peace plan in a speech in Cairo this June. King Abdullah, who discussed the plan with the president during their meeting last month, said that it will seek to resolve Israel's dispute with the Palestinians, as well as its territorial issues with Lebanon and Syria.

A '57-state solution'

Calling for what would be the largest talks in at least a decade, the King of Jordan has been working toward a "57-state solution" that would bring together all 57 Muslim nations to reach an agreement with Israel on the Palestinian statehood in exchange for recognition.

Optimism from the US and Jordanian camps may be premature though, says Professor Reich. "I don't think that [the Arab countries], together with the Israelis and the Americans, can get their acts together to come up with a solution within the short time frame expected by the [Obama] administration," he says, adding that many Israelis still have major security concerns about the creation of a Palestinian state that must first be resolved.

Although Obama has enjoyed relative popularity in the Middle East, to maintain it he will have to begin delivering on the message of change that he campaigned on.

"When Obama came to power, he represented a new vision," Hourani says. "Now, if he wants to change the image of the US ... he must translate his policies into actions, otherwise it will be just like the same story we've witnessed for a half century or more."

In Washington, it remains unlikely that Netanyahu will find much support for a hard-line stand against Iran, says Trita Parsi, author of "Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the U.S."

"Iran has a presence in almost every conflict in the region, and it's going to be tremendously difficult to make progress in Afghanistan and withdraw from Iraq without engaging with Iran," says Mr. Parsi. "Even if it makes some of America's allies nervous, some of that nervousness is based on exaggerated fears and unrealistic perception."