When both sides have a claim to this small but strategically significant piece of land, the way to resolve the issue should be through negotiations between the parties, just as the EU is calling for. Why then has the EU prejudged the outcome of those negotiations by taking the Palestinian side of the argument?

If Obama doesn't want to go down in history as the American President who missed the last chance for a two state solution he must not only act now to stop the bloodshed but devote serious American engagement to getting peace talks going again. He may fail, as others have before him (although the Arab Spring has changed the Middle East dynamic and should help focus Israeli minds), but at least he will have tried.