To keep the bond strong

The Anti-Defamation League recently published a comprehensive survey on American attitudes toward Israel. It turns out that support for Israel is still strong, and has even grown in recent years.

The 2009 Survey of American Attitudes toward Israel, the Palestinians and Prospects for Peace in the Middle East found that 67% of Americans see Israel as a country to be counted on as a strong, loyal U.S. ally, compared to 63% who thought so in 2003. According to the poll, 64% of Americans continue to believe that Israel is serious about reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians. By a 3:1 ratio, the American people express more sympathy with Israel than with the Palestinians: 45% to 15%. This support for Israel has risen 5% since 2003.

A majority of those surveyed, 64%, do believe that support for Israel makes the United States more likely to be targeted for terrorist attacks. However, 61% also maintain that the United States should continue to support Israel in spite of this risk.

There are very few precedents for this in international relations. True, we should not idealize any country, including the United States, but American foreign policy has an idealistic basis and it works in favor of Israel, to the surprise of quite a few people. It would be a mistake to think that such support comes only from evangelical Christians or is the result of pressure from the Jewish lobby. Backing Israel is in fact one of the issues with the broadest support in American foreign policy.

These numbers provide a large part of the answer to the question that pops up quite often in right-wing circles: What has Israel gained, in terms of international support, from its concessions since the Oslo Accords? The answer is it has gained a huge amount. The support of a majority of Americans is still a much more important factor than all the attacks on Israel and the calls for a boycott. The American people would never have awarded such support to a country they viewed as not pursuing peace.

The Oslo Accords, the Camp David Accords, the disengagement from the Gaza Strip and even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech agreeing to a Palestinian state are all part of the reason why 64% of Americans believe Israel is serious about seeking peace.

This is an asset of enormous importance, and it should not be wasted on a dispute with the Obama administration over the expansion of the settlements. The settlements are the main cause for questioning Israel's desire for peace and its willingness for a two-state solution. Even among our best friends in the United States and elsewhere, the great majority disagrees with Israel over this issue. They remain friends and supporters nevertheless, but for other reasons: sympathy for the Jewish people and Israeli democracy, an understanding of Israel's position in the region and doubts as to the Palestinians willingness to accept Israel - as the survey points out.

There is no real gap between the Obama administration's positions on the settlements and those of the Bush administration. The only difference is that Obama has decided to focus public and diplomatic attention on this issue. From the moment this happened it became clear - beyond any ideological or political dispute - that it is an essential Israeli interest to find a way to reach an agreement with the Americans on a formula for a settlement freeze.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent statements reflect progress toward such a formulation, but the public disagreement, in which the Americans state that Israel is not keeping its commitments as set out in the road map, is not over.

Such a prolonged and public dispute with the United States over the settlements harms Israel. It is a battle where even victory would be a serious defeat. Netanyahu understands America well enough to know that. The question is whether such a critical national interest is a good enough reason in his eyes to confront the extremists within his coalition and party.