Obama to Emphasize Two-state Solution in Meeting with Netanyahu

Obama wants Israel's prime minister to express support for a Palestinian state

May 18, 2009 RSS Feed Print
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Now it is Barack Obama's turn to play peacemaker in the Holy Land. Looking ahead to his June 4 Cairo speech to the Muslim world, Obama is drafting what European special envoy Tony Blair calls a "new framework" for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The details are still being worked out as Obama heads into talks with Israel's new prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and then meetings with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A new U.S. diplomatic push would be a major commitment by Obama, one that officials see as also key to achieving other foreign policy priorities, such as building Arab pressure against Iran's nuclear program and countering Islamic radicalism by showing progress on the hot-button Israeli-Palestinian issue. "Our interest lies not in a lengthy, drawn-out process but in real results," the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said this week.

But no one in the region forgets that the last big Mideast initiative, the Bush administration-backed "road map" in 2003, fell by the wayside. If anything, the situation has become only more intractable. Hamas militants now control the Gaza Strip and threaten Israelis and the moderate West Bank Palestinian leadership. And Israelis voted in a right-wing government that is dismissive of past peace moves.

Still, King Abdullah of Jordan came away from his recent meeting with Obama surprisingly upbeat. The king says they talked about an ambitious plan that would aim for a two-state settlement between Israel and the Palestinians and the resolution of disputes between Israel and Syria and Lebanon. Additionally, Abdullah suggested there may be something of a big-bang approach that brings together Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, Europeans, and Americans for a comprehensive "57-state solution," a reference to the number of nations that don't recognize Israel.

For now, Obama needs to get Palestinian and Israeli leaders at least on the same page, and that won't be easy. Abbas has proved to be an ineffectual negotiator, and the hawkish Netanyahu, who visits the White House today, is known for his toughness. He has floated some gestures to ease Palestinians' economic hardships but so far has retreated from the previous Israeli government's commitments on a Palestinian state. What's more, Netanyahu's top priority is stopping Iran's advancing nuclear capabilities. Israeli officials have signaled reluctance to move ahead on key Israeli-Palestinian issues until they have confidence that Obama will do whatever it takes to keep Tehran from getting the bomb.

Already, Mideast experts are buzzing over whether U.S.-Israel relations are headed into a rough patch. Vice President Biden, addressing a pro-Israel group early this month, was surprisingly blunt. "Israel has to work for a two-state solution," he said, adding that "you're not going to like my saying this, but" Israel needs to stop expanding settlements, demolish so-called outposts in the West Bank, and ease the military checkpoints that obstruct Palestinian movement and businesses in the West Bank. "This is a show-me deal," he said. "Not based on faith. Show me."

Chances are Obama and Netanyahu, nimble politicians, will come out smiling after their talks. A key question, though, is whether Netanyahu gives Obama what he wants and needs to move forward: explicit support for the principle of Palestinian statehood.

Tags:
Binyamin Netanyahu,
Mideast peace,
Middle East,
Israel,
Barack Obama

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I would allude to comments made by George Meany when the UAW and CIO were merging. He made a statement to the effect, we can try to work out all the details before we merge, and most likely the merge will never happen. Or we can unite and then work out the details and progress while we are doing it.

i submit that if there is to be a 2 state solution, set up the state of Palestine and the work out all the lurid details. Otherwise forget it, it will never happen. Even the US became independent before it had a constitution.

Dan Colovas of MI 5:14PM May 18, 2009

The price of Israel's creation can be read in the book, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine," by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. Pappe writes: " ... on 10 March 1948 ... veteran Zionist leaders together with young military Jewish officers, put the final touches to a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine." This led to 750,000 Palestinians being driven from their towns and villages in 1947-48. Many fled in the wake of atrocities such as the massacre of the villagers in Deir Yassin by Jewish forces on April 9, 1948. Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed, and vast tracts of land, houses, shops, olive and orange groves were confiscated.

From about 1938 on to the founding of Israel, Menachem Begin was the leader of the Irgun. A terrorist group that regularly assassinated English soldiers in Palestine and frequently hung their booby-trapped bodies in public places. Under Begin, the Irgun blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946, killing 97 British civil servants. The Stern Gang, under Yitzhak Shamir, also assassinated the U.N. representative to Palestine, Count Bernadotte, in 1948.

Of course since then the Israeli Government has spied on America numerous times(see J. Pollard). And killed our citizens, In 1967 Israel attacked the USS Liberty, an intelligence gathering vessel flying a US flag, killing 34 crew members. See "Assault on the Liberty," by James M. Ennes, Jr. (Random House).

Now, for all you "Historically Challenged Individuals concerned about Iran". In 1953 The democratically elected government of Iran was overthrown by the CIA and Britain's MI6. This led to the "Shah of Iran" dictatorship up until 1979, during which thousands of Iranians were killed, tortured and repressed and the oil flowed to the west like honey. Further when the "Shah" was kicked out of the Country, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wanted the Billions of Dollars in Iranian assets deposited in the "Chase Manhattan Bank" released to Iran. This would have caused the 3rd largest bank in the world (at that time) to fail. The U.S. was having none of that, nor was David Rockefeller, Chairman & CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank and founding member of the Tri-lateral Commission along with other commission members such as Paul Volker, Alan Greenspan and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Eventually this led to the Iranian hostage crisis and oil embargo. Now since that time we have backed Iraq (under Saddam Hussein) in their 7-8 year war with Iran, we have shot down an Iranian civilian passenger jet killing all 290 civilians on board in 1988 and have yet to return the billions of dollars in Iranian money over to the Nation of Iran. The fact that very few American citizens are even aware of the above mentioned circumstances lends proof that europeans view us as a nation of dummies lacking minimum comprehension as to the "cause and effect of our actions.

Now to the threatened attack by Israel on Iran and its nuclear facilities. Any attack is an impossibility due to several insurmountable conditions. First they would have to get U.S. permission to do a fly-over of Iraq and that won't happen, their jets would be shot down. Next they would have to be in a position to contend with the astronomical increase in the price of oil and the economic disaster that would befall every nation on the planet as a result of their actions. Do you think China or Russia would allow that to happen. They would be a nation of pariahs treated as lepers by the rest of the world and Israel, as a nation, could not survive if they were not destroyed "out-of-hand". They can talk all they want but everyone knows that the world will not allow Israel to drag it into WWIII.

Marcus of CA 3:41PM May 18, 2009

Congress - both houses - have been in power so long - they are in a rut and need new thoughts and ideas. They have lost their way and need new blood. Give the new people a chance to lead - we have been on a wrong track what ever it was.

Way back when Bill Archer moved fromHuston to

Washington, he remarked how difficult it was to live in Washington year round and not get changed. I think this situation seem to exist. Congress has to schedule its sessions so they aremore at hhome to realize what the local people are thinking by coming home more often. Writing to them is not that effective.You don't get their feeling.

Robert A. Amerman of TX 2:41PM May 18, 2009

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