The newly elected President Barack Obama faces a series of complicated, and inter-related issues in the Middle East that will demand his immediate attention and the full diplomacy efforts of the United States of America. Iran is quickly approaching the nuclear threshold, and it is unclear what the world will look like if we allow the terrorist regime to further advance its nuclear ambitions. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map", which underlines the U.S. concern about Tehran’s real intentions.

The Iranian President has repeatedly called the state of Israel a "stinking corpse" that is destined to disappear. To compound the problem in the region, we have a faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace process, weak governments in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, challenged by strong militant Islamist groups, and a U.S. position that has been weakened by our failed policies in the Middle East.

We need to re-direct our efforts to engage the Iranian government in all fronts, and to work directly with our allies in order to attempt to turn Tehran away from developing a nuclear capability. If the Iranian government is allowed to succeed, then the U.S. will miss a vital and most critical opportunity to stabilize the region. Failure in this area will lead to a nuclear race among many countries in the region.

Preventive military action against Iran by the U.S. or Israel is an unattractive option, given its risks and costs. However, it must remain an option because there are no “guarantees” that we can stop Tehran from producing substantial amounts of nuclear-weapons grade fuel at this point in time. The Middle East can not live with the danger of an Iranian bomb that could possibly reach the United States of America.

I propose that we actively engage the Middle East in an “unprecedented” peace process that encompasses bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Particularly between Israel and the Palestinians, Syria, and Lebanon. On the Israeli-Palestinian front we need to ensure a two-state solution that is permanent and that promotes peace and regional stability. We need to devote substantial time and effort now to create the conditions that would help diplomacy succeed later. What all these initiatives have in common is a renewed emphasis on diplomacy as a tool of U.S. national security policy, since the United States can no longer achieve its objectives without the backing of its regional allies.

An Israeli-Palestinian deal, no different that the Egyptian-Israeli Peace treaty that followed the Camp David Accords of 1978 is possible, if we can resume the peace negotiations that were started during the Oslo Accords. The Israeli government will be faced with many difficult decisions as a result, such as the issue of Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees, Israeli settlements, security, and border concerns among many others. An Israeli-Syrian deal would certainly weaken Iran's regional influence, reduce external support for Hamas and Hezbollah, and improve the prospects for stability in Lebanon and in the region over all.