Obama's Midterm Loss May Be Netanyahu's Win

For Benjamin Netanyahu, the view from Capitol Hill seemingly couldn't get much better.

A U.S. midterm election rout by the Republicans, widely seen in Israel as staunch allies, could give the Israeli leader even more incentive to resist pressure from a weakened U.S. President Barack Obama for concessions in Middle East peace negotiations.

Several Israeli political sources said on Wednesday members of Netanyahu's inner circle were cheered by the blow dealt to a Democratic president who is sharply at odds with the right-wing prime minister over Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians, who broke off U.S.-brokered direct talks with Israel in September after Netanyahu refused to extend a limited building moratorium in West Bank settlements, said they hoped Obama would stay the course in pursuing peace.

"There is no doubt that the outcome of the election has strengthened tremendously the pro-Israeli elements in the U.S. at large, in the House of Representatives, in the Senate and throughout the political establishment," said Yoram Ettinger, a former Israeli diplomat who served in the United States.

"This is going to constrain immensely the maneuverability of the president, who is generally pretty critical (even) negative towards Israel. Which would require the president, in my mind, to limit his pressure on Israel," he said.

But some political sources said the U.S.-educated Netanyahu was taking a more cautious view of the impact of Tuesday's vote on Obama's foreign policy and prospects for a second term.

The sources said Netanyahu was well aware that Democrat Bill Clinton, who also tried to forge Israeli-Palestinian peace, had rebounded from a Republican sweep in a 1994 midterm ballot and won re-election as president two years later.

Under international pressure to bend, Netanyahu is also believed to be working on a possible resumption of the partial freeze of housing starts in West Bank settlements in return for a package of security-related incentives from Washington.More>>