The expanding confrontation between Israel and its neighbors has been described variously as a "train wreck," a "lose-lose situation" and a "political tsunami." It's all those things, and likely to get worse: For there's no quick fix by Israel's ally, the United States. The Obama administration has been seeking diplomatic solutions to the two most incendiary issues — the demand by Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for an Israeli apology for the Gaza flotilla incident of May 2010, and the Palestinian plan to ask the United Nations to declare statehood. Despite feverish American efforts to defuse these bombs, they're...