Let’s forget for a minute that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program, that it has made an incitement to genocide, that it sponsors terror across the Middle East, and that it commits some of the worst human rights abuses imaginable.

Let’s forget that Syria has just shipped scud missiles with a range of 435 miles to Hezbollah, an Islamist group in Lebanon known in Canada, the US and elsewhere as a terrorist organization. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has in fact admitted that the group has an arsenal of 30,000 rockets and has the ability to strike anywhere in Israel.

Let’s also forget about Islamic fundamentalism and acts of terror in Iraq, Yemen, and across the Middle East and North Africa. Let’s not even mention Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

Now that we’ve got all of those issues out of the way, let’s talk about President Barack Obama’s plan for what he views as the central issue in the region: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mr. Obama has officially commanded Israel to do the following: extend the ten-month settlement freeze in the West Bank (due to expire on September 27th), freeze all construction in East Jerusalem as well, release a bunch of Palestinian terrorists to please Fatah officials, and withdraw to the borders of 2000 before the outbreak of the second intifada. This is apparently going to solve the conflict.

The first two of those requests will accomplish nothing, as the Palestinian Authority has already proved its intransigence on the issue. Barack Obama has hardened the Palestinian negotiating position by ordering a full freeze on construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. That means that PA President Mahmoud Abbas can demand nothing less.

The last two will result in an increase in terrorism that will endanger Israeli, American, and Canadian lives. Any uncooperative withdrawal in an area where undemocratic Islamist forces are present results in an increase in terrorism. Israeli withdrawals from Lebanon in 2000 and from the Gaza Strip in 2005 saw the rise of terrorist acts committed by Hezbollah and Hamas respectively, which in turn forced wars in 2006 and in 2008-09.

So essentially, Barack Obama’s plan for peace in the Middle East is to pressure Israel as much as possible into acquiescing to all Palestinian demands. This won’t solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it won’t solve the Arab-Israeli conflict, it won’t improve America’s ties with the Arab world, and it won’t weaken radical Islamic groups in the region.

In fact, if anything, peace right now between Israel and any Arab entity will strengthen Islamism. If any society controlled by Arab nationalists makes peace with Israel at the present time, the ruling powers will be accused of treason, will subsequently be overthrown, and Islamist entities will take over and nullify any peace deal, bringing us back to square one, the only difference being the new-found presence of more volatile regimes.

So basically, we’re in it for the long run. President Obama has made it clear that he has no interest in ever criticizing the Palestinian Authority, nor does he intend to address the issue of Hamas’s growing influence over Palestinian politics and society. The PA refuses to negotiate for fourteen months, renames streets after suicide-bombers, and teaches their children to hate Jews, yet Mr. Obama is more concerned with a few new apartments in Ramat Shlomo.

Islamic fundamentalism is a global problem, and it threatens both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It is a radical ideology that is gaining more and more support and that calls for a genocide against the Jews and world domination.

Mr. Obama, Islamic fundamentalism is the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East, not Israel. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you’ll notice that it isn’t only Israel’s security that is at risk, but America’s as well.

Zach Paikin is a student at McGill University.