The presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, is not expected to deviate from this administration's line, although he sounded more reasonable for a short while he respected the outcome of the internationally supervised Palestinian election in 2006 which brought Hamas to power.

Likewise Clinton's stance. After all it is unexpected for a senator from New York, which has a large Jewish community, not to deviate much from the pro-Israeli line that Americans have been nurtured on. For the record, the current U.S. foreign policy has been described as "a little more than an extension of Israeli foreign policy."

But as far as Obama is concerned, in the first months of his campaign he was an unknown entity on the Middle East's key issue, a factor that has raised apprehension among some in the American Jewish community while giving some hope for some Arab-Americans.

Interestingly, the African-American has won admiration from many former key U.S. officials including Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, and Robert Malley, the program director for Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group and a former special assistant to President Bill Clinton for Arab-Israeli affairs. Both are known advisers of the senator.

As he gained prominence and seemed virtually certain of his nomination as the Democratic Party's nominee in the general election, he is now being hounded mercilessly by pro-Israelis, especially the pro-Israel lobby known as AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Their ire was raised after Obama indicated that he was willing to talk to Iran, at present Israel's arch enemy because of the Tehran government's alleged nuclear ambitions. (But the fact, as revealed by Carter, that Israel possesses 150 nuclear weapons should not concern any nation in the Middle East and hardly raises an eyebrow in the halls of the White House.)

To counter the pro-Israel lobby offensive, Obama ultimately switched gears and began to court the Jewish vote, stressing that the United States should show "unshakeable" support for Israel.

His major step in this direction was his address last Friday to the B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Fl., which was described by one commentator as "a high-wire exercise of political pandering" designed to quell anti-Obama views in the Jewish community due to fears that he does not support Israel.

There was actually not much difference between what Bush told the Knesset on Israel's 60th birthday celebration and Obama's remarks before the Jewish audience in Florida. Both had a perfunctory one-liner about the Palestinians. Although the senator had pegged his election campaign to the attractive theme of "change," meaning that his administration would disavow the policies of the Bush administration and negotiate with adversaries, he stressed "we should not negotiate with Hamas or Hezbollah" unless "they renounce terror, recognize Israel's right to exist, and abide by past agreements." On this subject, he continued, "I have a fundamental difference with President Carter and his decision to meet with Hamas."

At another point, he was laudatory: "Justice is the heart of Israel's existence. The journey has been long, and, in the journey ahead, we have a lot of bumps. But America must stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally Israel. I believe that all Americans believe that."

He went on: "Israel has done more than just survive. It has thrived as a strong and vibrant democracy. It has provided that promised land for Jews around the world. It has built a thriving economy that's spreading opportunity to Israel's citizens, while enriching the world. And it has developed a rich cultural life and made enormous contributions to science and the arts."

To the seasoned observer, the senator overlooked Israel's aggressive policies in the region, ranging from ethnic cleansing to the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip which Carter described as "one of the greatest human rights crimes now existing on earth."

No wonder Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, and the director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, had this to say about Obama: "People think he's a saint. He's not. He's a politician."

--

George S. Hishmeh is a syndicated columnist.