The Israeli government never ceases to amaze me.� Since the election of President Obama they have been engaged in a game of chicken with the administration, attempting to ascertain whether there was anything behind the administration�s stated objective of achieving a just and lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Vice President Biden�s recent visit to Israel was situated at a point when the Obama administration sought to jumpstart Palestinian/Israeli peace talks.� Yet when he landed in Israel he was greeted not by even a symbolic overture towards the acceptance of the need for genuine peace talks, but instead by the Israeli announcement of further expansion into Palestinian East Jerusalem.

Biden was visibly stunned by the announcement and suitably embarrassed.� He criticized the Israeli announcement, which was followed by an Israeli �apology� for the timing of the announcement.� This part of the drama was followed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton�s own angry response to the Israeli announcement�which was followed by another Israeli �apology� for the timing.

So, what is one to make of this?� The Israelis are far too sophisticated to have made an error in timing.� Rather this was a clear signal, actually yet another signal, that they do not take the Obama administration seriously at all.� It was a signal to their allies in the USA that they have no intention of cooperating with the Obama administration on anything with regard to restrictions on further settler expansions, let alone, the closing down of settlements in the Occupied Territories.

While VP Biden was clearly unsettled by the insult, his willingness to stay in Israel�even while offering a criticism of the Israeli stand�represented the wrong statement.� VP Biden should have left Israel immediately after offering the criticism of the Israeli antics.� Such an action would have sent shock waves from Tel Aviv to Washington, DC.

For years there has been the repeated pattern of the Israelis violating one or another canon of international law, only to be criticized by members of the international community�in some cases even by the USA�followed by the ignoring of such criticisms by the Israelis.� There have been plenty of United Nations resolutions, as well as �angry� statements offered to the media by one or another government, criticizing Israeli behavior but their aggression continues.

The Obama administration seemed totally unprepared for Israeli recalcitrance.� It is almost as if the Obama administration expected that, following President Obama�s historic speech to the Muslim world, the Israeli government would compliantly accept the need for negotiations.� Why the Obama administration would expect such behavior, particularly from such a right-wing Israeli government, is perplexing, but they certainly were unwilling or unable to respond in kind when the Israeli government failed to blink.� Instead, the Obama administration did and has continued to do so.

So, while it would have been exciting to have seen VP Biden tell Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to go to the hottest spot in Hades, that not only did not come to pass, but was unlikely to happen.� The Obama administration fears the right-wing, pro-Israeli forces in the USA, but more importantly seems to be unprepared to unsettle the terms and conditions of the toxic US/Israeli alliance that has been a centerpiece of US policy in the Middle East since the 1960s.�

Rather than hoping that this will change, the energy that is represented in efforts to support justice for the Palestinians, such as the �boycott/divestment/sanctions� movement, are essential to actually bringing about any policy changes on the part of the USA.� It is this effort, one it should be noted that is emerging across the globe, which has the Israeli government and its allies reacting with concern, and in some cases panic.� As for the speeches coming out of the Obama administration, well, ask VP Biden what he believes that the Israeli government thinks about those.

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Bill Fletcher, Jr., is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum and co-author of, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice (University of California Press), which examines the crisis of organized labor in the USA. Click here to contact Mr. Fletcher.