Israel and America, ties as strong as before.

While the situation in Iraq has turned into a quagmire, it seems that any solution to any Middle-East problems revolves around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is even what Tony Blair now believes:

Tony Blair made an open plea yesterday to George Bush to recognise that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies at the core of any hopes for wider peace in the Middle East, including Iraq.
He argued: "We should start with Israel-Palestine. That is the core. We should then make progress on Lebanon. We should unite all Arab and Muslim voices behind a push for peace in those countries, but also in Iraq."
He believes Syria and Iran have a long-term interest in a stable Middle East, including an end to the sectarian conflict inside Iraq.

Blair can plea as he wants, it is unlikely that the unwavering support of the US for Israel is about to change – certainly so long as Bush is in power. Even the victory of the Democrats will not change anything. After all, Nancy Pelosi, the new Speaker of the House is a strong supporter of Israel.

The US opposed a resolution to veto a U.N. Security Council draft resolution Saturday that sought to condemn an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and demand Israeli troops pull out of the territory.

This despite the terrible pictures of the 18 civilians killed in Gaza shelling (because of a "technical" error) last week, including women and children. The friendly meeting between prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and President Bush in Washington yesterday is not likely to improve America’s image in the Arab world.

The American support of Israel has many causes as we have often discussed on this blog (see here, here, and here). The role of the Conservative Christians is a major one. Yesterday, the NYTimes published an interesting article on the issue:

Many conservative Christians say they believe that the president’s support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state, which some of them think will play a pivotal role in the second coming. Many on the left, in turn, fear that such theology may influence decisions the administration makes toward Israel and the Middle East.