Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu was fairly quick to reject Obama's call for a 'Palestinian' state based on the 1949 Armistice lines ( that's actually what the pre-'67 lines actually were..they were never borders).
Netanyahu has a perfectly logical reason for doing so..in a statement released today, Netanyahu said a withdrawal to the pre '67 lines would jeopardize Israel's security and leave major Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria outside Israeli borders.
"Israel appreciates President Obama's commitment to peace," the statement said. "Israel believes that for peace to endure between Israelis and Palestinians, the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and only Jewish state. That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of U.S. commitments made to Israel in 2004. ... Among other things, those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines."
Actually, President Obama's actual speech did talk about a settlement based on the '67 lines with adjustments,which is actually a retreat to the agreement Bush and Sharon had - you know, the one Hillary and Obama swore never happened. But the harsh language Obama used towards Israel not only made Netanyahu react but Israel's many supporters here in the US as well.
You see, when the president is addressing the Israelis, it's always in the command tone about concrete demands he wants from Israel. When he addresses the Palestinians, he's not demanding anything concrete, he just says that Palestinians will get what they want if they do what he's asking.
For instance , Israel must end settlement activity. But the Palestinians should realize that
' efforts to delegitimize Israel will end in failure.' Not that the Palestinians must end demonizing Israel, or that the US won't support them if they fail to do so..just that it might not be such a good idea. Israel must accede to a peace settlement must be based on pre-1967 lines. But
Fatah allying with a genocidal Hamas is only 'problematical' when it comes to negotiations, not a game ender.
Half of the Democrats in Congress are already pushing for aid to be cut off to the Palestinians because of Fatah's menage with Hamas, and after today, those efforts will intensify.
And if President Obama was hoping to reassure Jewish voters and donors with today's speech and his weekend appearance before AIPAC, he really miscalculated. The true believers like J Street will still drink the Kool-ade, but some Jewish support for Obama is likely to erode.
Even worse, by telling the 'Palestinians' that 'Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won’t create an independent state' and insisting 'Palestinians will never realize their independence by denying the right of Israel to exist' he angered them as well.
Our president is a man of unique talents, if that's the word for it. He seems to be able to infuriate both sides of a given dispute almost at will.
And oh yes, I almost forgot - after our amateur president's performance today and his remarks on Yemen and Bahrain, Saudi King Abdullah probably wanted to emasculate Obama personally.
The always scintillating J.E. Dyer has more over at Hot Air
i suppose that after this episode, hussein's j/a/r within the jooish community in the US will drop precipitously to about 101%.
ReplyDeleteWould the United States allow "right of return" to all indigenous tribes within their country?
ReplyDeleteNo,theUS wouldn't - but that's a false analogy because the majority of the 'Palestinians' aren't indigenous.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of them emigrated to what became Israel from Lebanon, Syria, the Hejaz and Egypt during the period when the British held the mandate and allowed unlimited in-migration for Arabs but not for Jews. An example is Arafat, an Egyptian.
Also, after the 1948 war as the head of UNRWA at that time admitted,many i Arabs who had never lived in Palestine claimed refugee status because of the food, money and freebies UNRWA was handing out.
Regards,
Rob
at the gym this morning, i was forced, due to the location of my treadmill, to listen/watch cnn. it was either that or the view.
ReplyDeletewhat i came away from reading ff, is this.
bibi is no dummy, he may be off the mark sometimes, however, i think bibi has come to the realization that he is going to have to deal with hussein for the next 12, or possibly 20 years, as potus. bibi is not going to be able to "just wait hussein out" like bibi had planned.
"Our president is a man of unique talents, if that's the word for it. He seems to be able to infuriate both sides of a given dispute at will." I think you nailed it here!! This is an ENORMOUS problem.
ReplyDeleteAmerica is the most hated nation on earth. To be fair much of this predates Mr. Obama. This is a VERY DIFFICULT problem to solve. Much of the narrative about America has been spread for many decades by America's enemies and America has never really had a coherent public relations policy to counter this. As such, this will not be corrected in the near term.
With that in mind, we do have to start somewhere on addressing this. A good place to start woudl be to stay out of conflicts that aren't any of our business. The Israeli/Arab conflict is a good example of this. If we stay out of it, we aren't going to "infuriate" any one. Also, America working in concert with others have often acted to thwart Israel's just interests. With us out of the way it will make it harder for others to thwart Israel's interests. The Israelis will prevail any way and I think they would be greatful to us for staying out of their way!!
I think one of our founding fathers said to roughly paraphrase, "why quit our own to stand on foreign lands." Another founding father said, to roughly paraphrase, "we should support liberty everywhere but we can only guarantee our own. America does not go through the world looking for giants to slay." I think its time we took these words to heart and acted accordingly.
This is especially the case when considering the massive issues America faces right now. Entangling ourselves in the affairs of others right now is amssive distraction from the single minded focus we are going to need to solve these problems. Not to mention it takes precious resources away from the addressing of these problems.