As Israeli president Shimon Peres makes the first substantive contact between the Netanyahu government and the administration of US President Barack Obama, nothing is more important to him than to begin the relationship with Israel’s most loyal ally on a friendly footing.

That was evident in the comments Peres made Monday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) “For 60 years, America has been and still is more than just an ally – it is an unusual partner and brave friend.”

The Netanyahu government has been tamping down all discussion of a collision course between Netanyahu even though Obama favors the creation of a Palestinian State and Netanyahu is reluctant to acknowledge the notion of one.

Israel’s deputy foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, told me Netanyahu is not about to dig in his heels and pick a fight with an American President:

Ayalon: “I believe this will not be an issue, certainly not with our American Friends.”
Tobin: “So, ultimately (we will see) a compromise that agrees with the Obama administration.”
Ayalon: “This is what I would suspect.”

But it’s not going to be as easy as a simple compromise. First of all,  Netanyahu is just not a compromise kind of guy.  His hubris and lecturing of President Clinton caused US envoy Dennis Ross to describe Netanyahu as “immature” and “insufferable.”  Once Netanyahu left the room, according to Ross, Clinton said of Netanyahu, “He thinks he is the superpower and we’re here to do whatever he wants.”  Their relation ship was famously contentious.

It’s likely that Netanyahu ‘matured’ since his first go around as the leader of Israel. He knows Israel gets billions of dollars in aid from the US and he needs US support to discourage Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But Netanyahu still has to answer to the voters of Israel and they didn’t vote for Obama.

They certainly did not vote for the US President’s support of the Arab Peace initiative, which calls for comprehensive peace with all Arab nations in exchange for Israel withdrawing to the borders that existed before the 1967 war.  That means Israel gives the Golan Heights back to Syria and gives most of the West Bank to the Palestinian state (with some land swaps in exchange for land on which the largest Israeli settlements sit).

If you could describe the platform that brought Netanyahu to power for a second time, it is the ‘I told you so’ platform.  Netanyahu left Ariel Sharon’s government as Sharon was preparing to pull out of the Gaza strip.  Netanyahu predicted that if Israel pulled out, Gaza would fall to Islamic radicals and rockets would reach as far as the Israeli port city,  Ashdod.  Sure enough, Hamas took over Gaza and this winter I stood in Ashdod with the rockets raining down.

Combined with the kidnappings and Hezbollah rockets in the North, Israeli voters demonstrated their impatience with the Arab world and voted against concessions to the Arabs, certainly territorial concessions. They cast ballots for bellicose right-wingers who refused to give up and inch of land.  64 out of 120 seats went to right wing parties and Netanyahu was their champion.

***Let me make a quick detour to highlight the irony that Netanyahu, through ordering the blundered assassination of Khaled Meshall in 1997, sparked the popularity and ultimately the empowerment of Hamas. Meshall, now the leader of Hamas, drove Netanyahu to power by firing rockets out of Gaza. (There has to be a life lesson in there somewhere.  If you figure it out, chirp me a tweet @miketobinfox.)***

So, getting back to the issue. If Netanyahu starts looking like he will bend to US wishes and give up land, politicians will bolt from his government like cats out of a bathtub when you turn on the water. The likely outcome would be that he’ll lose his majority in the Knesset and his government will be toppled. It’s possible he could pull off some Sharon-like political wizardry and keep his ship afloat, but an inch of territorial concessions will bring Netanyahu to the brink of joining the long list of Prime Ministers thrown out before serving a full term. Heck, He’s already been down that road once.

So, what’s an experienced Prime Minister to do? Make nice with President Obama, and then delay as long as possible.  Netanyahu is laying the groundwork for that already with his insistence that moderate Palestinians go a step beyond recognizing Israel and recognize it as a ‘Jewish’ state.  That prompted a tirade from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who said, “It is not my job to give a description of the state. Name yourself the Hebrew Socialist republic – it is none of my business.”  Abbas’ chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, dug out a letter signed by President Truman in 1948. The letter recognizes Israel but the typed words ‘Jewish state’ were crossed out and replaced with the handwritten words ‘State of Israel’.

The demand bought time and backed up the starting point for negotiations. While the public and press chew on that, Israel keeps building settlements in the West Bank, putting a Palestinian state further out of reach.