The key question Israel's Netanyahu should ask himself as he ponders demands by the Obama administration for drastic unilateral concessions to Palestinians in exchange for the promised prospect of peace has nothing to do with the Middle East conflict at all, but should rather be this: "Where is Nebraska Compromise in the recently-passed healthcare reform bill?"

This is a relevant question because it sheds clear, bright light on the worth of promises offered by the Obama administration and its minions. To refresh our memory, here is what happened. The democrats needed sixty votes to get the senate version through, but Sen. Nelson of Nebraska would not vote for it. Not to worry! Everyone has his price; that of Sen. Nelson's vote was a promise to him that the federal government will pay for Nebraska's expansion of Medicaid in perpetuity.

What a deal! Sen. Nelson accepted it, and voted for the bill. And now that the bill has been signed into the law, should Nebraskans rejoice that they are off the hook for paying for their state's Medicaid?

Not really, because the Nebraska compromise is nowhere to be found in the new law - it got kicked out during "reconciliation." Sen. Nelson was given a promise? Too bad.

Pushing through the healthcare reform - done in a thoroughly ruthless fashion, with total disregard to promises - the promise to Sen. Nelson having been only one of them (the promise of drafting it publicly, on TV, was another one), is not the only piece of Obama administration's agenda. Mending fences with the Muslims is another one.

Their price tag? Deliver Israel to Arabs.

Obama is perfectly willing to pay - but the Israelis aren't. How to entice them? We know the pattern by now. What worked with Sen. Nelson is ought to do the trick with Israel, too. Promise them something they strongly desire and therefore cannot refuse: peace. And if the Israelis has been made too wise through experiences of Oslo and Madrid, of giving up land and control only to get intifada in return, with over a thousand dead and many more maimed, to believe such promises? Declare them unreasonable, not knowing what is good for them, and force them - for their own good of course, for the sake of peace.

Which is all there is to the Obama-Netanyahu dust-off. Obama wants Israel to surrender to Palestinian demands; Israelis had enough of that in two decades since Oslo, and know what will result all too well. They are not willing to voluntarily commit suicide for the sake of Obama-Moslem love. Hence, brutal coercion of Netanyahu by Obama.

Obama needs to get his way with Israel, and, just as in the passage of the healthcare bill, he will promise anything. He will make promises that, once Israel is stripped of her secure borders (and her national heritage, for that matter) he will guarantee the security of Israel; that he will make Abbas' good intentions come true; that he will remove Arab hostility, that he will take the sting out of Iranian mullahs, that he will provide millennial peace.

Delivering on them is, of course, an entirely different matter.

For that, Netanyahu would do well to consult Sen. Nelson of Nebraska.