Poll: Likud Remains Popular

As President Obama tilts at the Middle East peace windmill, polls out of Israel shows Likud remains popular:

A prospective tally of seats shows that the Likud party would get 29 seats in the next election to the Knesset.

Kadima is second with 23 seats, followed by Israel Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu) with 16, the International Organization of Torah-observant Sephardic Jews (Shas) with 12, Labour with 10, Yahadut Hatorah (United Torah Judaism) with six, Vitality-Together (Meretz-Yachad) with five, and both Jewish Home (Habayit Hayehudi) and National Union (HaIhud HaLeumi) with four. The Arab parties would get 11 seats in the Knesset.

As committed as the Obama administration may be to make peace, at the end of the day it's going to be up to both parties to buy in. Support for Likud doesn't automatically translate into a lack of support for the peace process, but it does suggest that pressuring Netanyahu (who himself is holding up OK in the polls) may not be the best way to bring Israel along.

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Photo credit: AP Photos.