The odd-couple pairing of Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu has apparently frayed for good, at least according to Ben Smith’s sources at the White House.  As in most breakups, it’s not clear just who is dumping whom, but the alliance between the US and Israel may be at its nadir.  Ironically, the US has belatedly discovered that Mahmoud Abbas isn’t exactly a partner for peace:

In recent weeks, in the wake of the latest collapse of American diplomacy in the region around Thanksgiving, a new, more hard-headed view of Netanyahu has become cemented in the West Wing — one that rates the chances of a personal alliance growing between the Israeli leader and President Barack Obama to be just about zero.

The notion that the two men could prove a productive diplomatic odd couple has been tossed aside because, in the American view, the worst expectations about Netanyahu’s intransigence have been confirmed. The new view: Netanyahu chose the constraints of a coalition that he steered further right this month, and the U.S. won’t be offering him help, or sympathy, with his domestic politics going forward.

Meanwhile, this distinctly non-rose colored view of Netanyahu has taken hold in the White House just as there is growing doubt about whether Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas can ever be a consistent, strong American ally. The twin conclusions have brought a distinct frost to administration relations with both men — a chill that for now seems likely to freeze the chances for any new U.S. peace initiative in the region.

The result?  Obama has “lost interest” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

This latest moment of gloom comes as the White House has lost interest in the Middle East for another reason. Obama’s two departing senior aides, Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, were personally deeply involved in the Middle East talks, viewing them as historic and politically promising opportunities. They’re being replaced with staffers with little demonstrated interest and few ties to Israel, Bill Daley and David Plouffe.

“There’s definitely been a change since Rahm and Axelrod left,” said Zvika Kreiger, a senior vice president of The S. Daniel Abraham Center for International Peace in Washington.

If Obama really has “lost interest” in solving that standoff, then give him credit for being a faster study than most of his predecessors.  It only took Obama two years to realize that it’s not solvable in the current political paradigm, which is to say that the Palestinians won’t settle for just the West Bank and Gaza, and the Israelis won’t settle for annihilation.  Palestinians want the entire territory and have spent the last sixty years convincing themselves that they’re both entitled to it and can recapture it.  Palestinians aren’t interested in peaceful coexistence, and Israelis aren’t interested in the Helen Thomas plan.

Heck, it took both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton two full terms to figure it out.  Kudos to Obama if he decides to stop wasting time and effort on the issue.

However, that doesn’t mean that Obama should cut Netanyahu loose over his rightward leanings.  Israel remains a critical ally, if for no other reason to Obama than as a key component for containment of Iran.  The alliance between the US and Israel is too critical for it to decline because of personal pique on the part of any President.  He doesn’t have to like Netanyahu, but Obama had better figure out how to work with Netanyahu, because the time is rapidly approaching where the US and Israel will need Bibi.