The word on the street in Israel is varied after Obama’s monumental speech in Cairo, Egypt yesterday.  President Netanyahu is now faced with a monumental dilemma of choosing between his coalition and relations with the United States.

The United States symbiotic relationship with Israel is not in jeapordy, however without Israel’s obeying Obama’s new policy shift, there will be some colder years between us.  On the other hand, Netanyahu cannot forsake his constituency.  Bibi could make concessions to the US, Arabs, and even freeze all settlement expansion (as if there’s been such a boom in recent years…), and then risk the right-wing and religious parties in his coalition from balking and voting a no-confidence on his new government.  The left-wing parties and left-center Kadima will gladly step in and support Bibi’s policy shift, but at a price.

Bibi likes to call the shots.  He is not willing to share a government with Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni, especially after her latest outbursts in the Knesset plenum attacking Netanyahu and daring him ‘to be a man’.

The 300,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria (and parts of Jerusalem that many Israelis consider part of our Captial city, but the world defines as “East Jerusalem”) are now feeling the pinch.  They will tell you that Rabbi Meir Kahane was right.  The outspoken, far-right leader of the Kach party who was gunned down in front of a NY hotel 20 years ago, wrote before his murder that Israel would face a conundrum with the United States on settlement policies.  His solution was to transfer populations – essentially, to put the Arabs on a bus and send them over to Jordan or Egypt.

The general public in Israel is more ambivalent to the notion of a ‘Greater Israel’.  Polls taken by the major newspapers have shown that there is no broad consent for continuing growth in some areas of Judea & Samaria, and many would be willing to cede these areas to the Palestinians as part of a bilateral agreement that ensured them safety and improved business prospects.

Here are some related headlines from today’s Israeli newspapers: