WASHINGTON (AP) — The path to peace in the Middle East gets no easier just because rage over a diplomatic slap by Israel is giving way to calmer words. President Barack Obama faces the same reality, only more difficult now: Mideast peace is hard to envision, choices are limited, and expectations for the Nobel Peace Prize-winning president are soaring. He has shown a willingness to call out an ally for undermining peace, yet he now endures criticism for reproaching a friend.

Obama’s strategy has been to leave the scolding and diplomatic work to lieutenants while the fallout of an embarrassing rift is fresh. He appears to be staying on the sidelines to avoid escalating the fight, ever focused on domestic concerns before an economically bruised nation. But it will ultimately be on him to find a way out, let alone forward, on Mideast peace.

At stake is international credibility for Obama, and stability for a region that bedevils US presidents even when friends aren’t fighting.

The White House is standing by its condemnation of its ally Israel after a housing decision that had ramifications across the spectrum: An undermined peace process, an insulted US vice president and a blow to the trust between two governments whose relationship is central to security in an explosive part of the globe.

Israel’s announcement of plans to build 1,600 more Jewish homes in disputed east Jerusalem, with Vice President Joe Biden in the midst of a relationship-building visit, meant that one of the settlements that has impeded negotiations with Palestinians would only get larger.

First came uproar, and since then, a smoothing. Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have talked anew. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the face of the US response, dressed down Netanyahu by telephone last week and is still waiting back for responses from him, but she assures that the bond between the US and Israel is unshakable.

Yet it sure seems shaken, adding to the difficulty of Obama’s efforts.