What is the prevailing atmosphere and mood among Israelis this year? Reports from both the left and right on the political spectrum present a dark picture – one of unease and apprehension about the future. Two enormous issues are the focus of cabinet discussions, newspaper editorials and citizens talking in Tel Aviv’s cafes – Iran’s nuclear development program and tensions with President Obama’s administration.

Michael Freund, a columnist for The Jerusalem Post, voice of the right, said in a telephone interview, “There is a confluence of two very worrying events. One is the Iranian threat, an existential threat. Add to that the fact that for the first time in recent memory there is a president in the White House who is not overly sensitive to the Jewish state and its interests. You put the two together and it will affect anyone’s mood, even an optimist like me.”

At Haaretz, the newspaper on the political left, the editorial on April 19 warned that Israel “is isolated globally and embroiled in a conflict with the superpower whose friendship and support are vital to its very existence. It is devoid of any diplomatic plan aside from holding on to the territories and afraid of any movement. It wallows in the existential threat that has only grown with time. It seizes on every instance of anti- Semitism, whether real or imagined, as a pretext for continued apathy and passivity.”

What has brought both left and right factions in Israel to agreement on where the nation’s position and psyche are in relation to President Obama and the United States? Why do public opinion polls show that as high as 90 percent of Israelis distrust President Obama?

Perhaps, it is best to start at the beginning, when the new president came to the Middle East and gave a major address in Cairo on June 4, 2009. Israelis listened carefully to every word he said as did Arabs and Muslims. Israelis came to the moment with expectations based on the history of full support from every president – Republican and Democrat – who had succeeded Harry S. Truman who backed the founding of Israel in l948. Obama’s address was long, comprehensive and eloquent, well worth rereading as this writer did in preparation for this column. In the opening, he said, “I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and the Muslim world ...” He covered seven diverse areas starting with the Afghanistan War and Iraq War. The second topic was the Israeli-Palestinian issue. He sought to be even-handed. He stressed that he would visit Buchenwald the next day and paid tribute to the Holocaust survivors who had come to Israel to build the new nation. He spoke of Gaza where “the situation of the Palestinian people is intolerable.” They “endure the daily humiliations, large and small, that come with occupation.” He reaffirmed support for the Two State Solution of Israel and Palestine.

Then he moved to what the Israelis and the Palestinians needed to do, “the responsibilities that came with the Road Map.” He was very clear: “Palestinians must abandon violence. Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements and Israel’s right to exist.” To the Israelis, he said: “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.” The Israelis were also urged to develop more humanitarian ways to improve living conditions in Gaza for the Palestinians. An analysis of Obama’s “musts” to the two sides shows that the Palestinians were urged to fulfill broad aims. For the Israelis, his main focus was specific – to stop building illegitimate settlements.

What has happened since Cairo? Immediate reaction world-wide to Obama’s speech was that he had held out an olive branch to the Arab nations. Israeli officials replied to Washington that the Bush administration had given the okay to continued building of settlements in certain areas. They were told that this policy would no longer be in effect. Most Israelis also were distressed that Obama had used the term “occupation” for Gaza, since Israel does not occupy Gaza. In fact, the Israeli army had forcibly dragged settlers from their homes in the settlements in Gaza where they had lived for decades. George Mitchell was appointed as a special U.S. envoy to the Middle East with the hope that he could use his negotiating skills, proven successful in Ireland, to bringing the two sides closer together.

Mitchell began more than a year of shuttle diplomacy between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. His aim was to revive direct negotiations that had broken down in late 2008 after the Israeli invasion of Gaza in response to sustained rocket fire into Israel from militants. The Palestinians, who had heard Obama in Cairo, refused to negotiate until Israel ended construction in the settlements and East Jerusalem. Prime Minister Netanyahu finally acceded to a ten-month moratorium on construction in the settlements, excluding East Jerusalem. On March 8, 2010, President Abbas agreed to United States-mediated talks with Israel over four months. Israel had accepted the indirect talks the previous week.

In recognition of the impending talks, Vice President Joseph Biden traveled to Israel on March 9 to assure unyielding American support for Israel’s security. Within hours, however, Israel’s Interior Minister announced construction of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem and set off a diplomatic firestorm between Israel and the United States. Although Netanyahu insisted he had been blindsided by the minister, Vice President Biden reacted with rare and harsh language, declaring “I condemn the decision ...” Israelis and many American Jews were shocked by Biden’s words, and the angry tone of the Obama administration in the days that followed.

Secretary of State Clinton held a tense 43 minute telephone conversation with Netanyahu who was then invited to the United States to meet with President Obama. His visit was very different from the reception usually given to the leader of a visiting nation; no smiling seated photographs in the Oval Office, no joint press conference after the talks. In contrast, Netanyahu’s address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meeting in Washington was greeted with strong and sustained applause. Netanyahu spoke of Jews building in Jerusalem for thousands of years and declared with passion, “Jerusalem is not a settlement! Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel.” A letter was sent to Secretary Clinton on April 13 from 79 U.S. Senators implicitly criticizing the administration’s confrontational stance toward Israel. They wrote, “We must never forget the depth and breadth of our alliance ...” A similar letter was sent from 333 members of the House of Representatives. Israelis were not the only ones deeply disturbed by Clinton’s demands that Israel reverse the building plan in East Jerusalem.

Throughout these tense days, Abbas did not back down from pursuing indirect talks with Israel. On Independence Day, both President Obama and Secretary Clinton sent warm congratulatory messages, including personal best wishes to Netanyahu. A full page New York Times statement by Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel that cited Jerusalem as King David’s capital, ended, “Jerusalem is the heart of our heart, the soul of our soul.” The crisis appeared to have run full circle. Yet, the April l9 Jerusalem Post editorial , “62, Under a U.S. Cloud” cut to the essence of the issue. It said, the Obama administration “has diverged from the tone of previous administrations on the status of Jerusalem, and it has damagingly publicly questioned fundamental aspects of our alliance.” It warned that Washington needed to understand that “Israel is still resented and rejected by most of the Arab world, not because of this or that policy, or this or that territorial presence, but because of the fact of our existence here.”

Joyce S. Anderson is the author of “Courage in High Heels,” “Flaw in the Tapestry,” “If Winter Comes” and “The Mermaids Singing.” She can be reached at JSAWrite@aol.com.