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Obama Fans Flames in Israel
(FOX News) Jonathan Schanzer - After a diplomatic crisis last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been working to bring calm to the region, while U.S. President Barack Obama inexplicably appears to be trying to escalate tensions. In the weeks leading up to this crisis, the winds of war had already been blowing. Calls for a new "intifada" (uprising) were heard across the fractured Palestinian political landscape. Then came the crisis. Israel announced plans for a housing project in east Jerusalem - a move that sparked considerable anger among the Palestinians, who overwhelmingly seek to usurp Jerusalem from Israel and make it their own. Rather than issue a quiet rebuke, the Obama administration saw an opportunity to put Israel on the defensive. Israeli apologies were not enough. The plan was clearly to extract concessions from Israel in future peace talks. Longing for a rift in the staunch alliance that has existed between Israel and the U.S. since Israel's inception in 1948, the Palestinians marveled at one that appeared. The Palestinians took their cue from the White House. Several prominent Palestinian leaders called upon Arabs living in Israel to march upon Jerusalem to "protect it from the Jews." On Monday and Tuesday, Palestinian youths came out in force to burn tires and throw rocks at Israeli soldiers. Drawing out this diplomatic crisis has only fanned the flames of hatred on the Palestinian street. The writer is vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.