In an interview with Time Magazine last week, President Barack Obama acknowledged that his efforts to promote peace for Israel were stymied by the forces of inertia from within Israeli and Palestinian societies.

Obama said: "I think the Israelis and Palestinians have found that the political environment, the nature of their coalitions, or the divisions within their societies were such that it was very hard for them to start engaging in a meaningful conversation."

Now - emboldened by the Democratic loss in the Massachusetts Senate race - critics want him to put peace for Israel on the back burner.

There is good news today regarding a dangerous project in Jerusalem: famed architect Frank Gehry pulled out of a plan to build a "Museum of Tolerance" on top of an ancient Muslim cemetery.

APN repeatedly called on the Simon Wiesenthal Center to move the planned museum to another site. Now that Gehry has backed out we have a new opportunity to get the Wiesenthal Center to do the right thing.

During their visit to Israel this week, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman chose to score political points rather than to help promote peace for Israel.

The senators pounced on a statement made by George Mitchell. After being pushed repeatedly by Charlie Rose on this point, Mitchell observed that previous presidents had withheld loan guarantees to Israel in order to push Israel to make progress towards peace. Pundits in Israel quickly interpreted this statement as a veiled threat.