Hopes for progress in peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians have been dashed, as the positive rhetoric of the Obama Administration has crashed into the reality of a right-wing Likud Party in Israel and long-standing distrust on both sides. The major sticking point has been Israeli opposition to a US request to freeze settlement construction, but the Netanyahu government would have probably found some other reason to oppose peace talks.

The effort to bring the parties together as an honest broker has not been aided by a Congress – and in some cases, a White House – which still sides with Israel on practically all issues. This week, the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning what they called a “biased” UN report detailing Israeli and Hamas war crimes in the Gaza war of 2008. The Goldstone report, named after the head of the fact-finding mission that authored it, South African judge Richard Goldstone, had already been condemned by the Obama Administration previously. The resolution passed the House 344-36.

However, before the vote, a small group of progressives did attempt to keep the resolution, authored by Howard Berman (D-CA), off the floor. The letter, signed by 21 Democrats, notes the inaccuracy of the resolution with respect to the Goldstone report on several key fronts, and calls for hearings on the matter rather than an “excessively broad” statement that is “inconsistent with our national commitment to human rights and the rule of law.” I’ve added a copy of the letter here.

Privately, there is some frustration among progressives for always having to weigh in on these kinds of votes, while Blue Dogs and conservatives are often shielded from votes that they would rather not take. The Goldstone resolution was non-binding and without any authority, and really didn’t need to be taken, in their view. Obviously, given the final vote, the Israel lobby still wields a tremendous amount of influence on Capitol Hill. But there’s starting to be some quiet pushback.