The problem facing the Administration is that international impatience with the stalled U.S. peace process has reached a point where more photo-op diplomacy won't suffice. The world wants to see progress on a two-state solution, and believes Israel has to be pressed on the matter.

Your plan must include approaching the most senior politicians, mobilizing the relevant force multipliers... using the media, influencing local public opinion, and public diplomacy aimed at all the relevant communities.

Portugal is more pro-multilateral, emphasizing soft power and persuasion rather than picking fights, argued Jez Littlewood, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University. This, he argues, is actually similar to the position Canada used to take when it sat on the council.

Why did Mr Obama risk stirring such bad blood between his administration and Israel’s, to no apparent diplomatic gain and at a time when the pro-Israeli lobby in America, already in pre-election mode, still wields so much clout?

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu invited Palestinians back to the bargaining table Tuesday with a U.S. speech that promised “painful” Israeli concessions in exchange for peace but also outlined a tough negotiating stance that was immediately rejected by key Palestinian officials.

President Obama reassured a powerful pro-Israel group that America's support for the Jewish state's security is "ironclad" but insisted on a sense of urgency about reviving peace talks that he said would require both Israelis and Palestinians to make "hard choices."

Social media experts and activists are bemoaning the failure of Palestinians to join the Arab Spring and bring about bottom-up change through viral campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Indeed, the disappointment was palpable at a one-day conference in Ramallah last week...

If Israel does not broadcast its own claims, and instead leaves the impression that disputed territories are rightfully Palestinian, then who cares how many start-ups Israel incubates, how gay-friendly, pluralistic, progressive, or environmentally conscious it is?