Given that peace between the Israelis and Palestinians has been the equivalent of the fountain of youth for American presidents for the past two decades (it is that which is desperately sought but never found) it comes as no surprise that the current president has committed himself to the same venture. But what he will soon realize is that the same impediment that thwarted the efforts of his predecessors will do the same to him. It is something which is out of his control, something that even the most finely crafted, sonorously delivered, and heartfelt speech cannot remedy. It is the simple fact that the powers that be in the Palestinian territories still do not stipulate to the one inescapable precondition for peace: acceptance of Israel's right to exist. President Obama and anyone else can try as they may, but without such a stipulation from the Palestinians no two-state solution and no meaningful peace can be realized.
Nothing can overcome this obstacle, including efforts to pressure the Israelis into more concessions. They have made their fair share of such since the failed Oslo Accords and have received little in return. At this point the onus is upon the Palestinian political leadership and people. Peace between Israeli and Palestinian will occur only when the latter is sincerely willing to accept a state situated side-by-side with the former, abandoning forever the effort to push Israel into the sea. It seems self-evident that two sides cannot co-exist peacefully when one side does not recognize the right of the other to exist in the first-place.
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