The words missing from Obama’s speech yesterday: Defensible borders. He said “secure and recognized borders,” which is quite a different concept from “defensible borders.”
Omri has a roundup of experts who noticed the major shift in U.S. policy. And the entire JBlogosphere is awash with posts and commentary.
The thing that bothers me the most about the Obama speech is that I’m quite sure he thinks he did right by Israel. So does Hillary Clinton whom, you may remember, sat by and said nothing while Suha Arafat accused Israel of poisoning Palestinian children.
The 1967 lines, as they are properly called, were never borders. A border is an internationally recognized line delineating the end of one nation and the beginning of another. The 1967 lines are the 1949 armistice lines that were the areas where Jews and Arabs separated at the end of Israel’s War of Independence. They were never internationally-recognized borders. UN Resolution 242, in fact, specifically left out language that might mistake them for borders. The UN always intended for Israel to negotiate with the Arabs (who were not Palestinians in 1949) for the borders of the states of Israel and Palestine. However, the Arabs never accepted the loss of the fictional land of Palestine (the real Palestine was the British Mandate of Palestine, an area including Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and Jordan); “Transjordan” was the area east of the Jordan river. The West Bank was annexed by Jordan in 1949 and then lost in the Six-Day war in 1967. The “22% of Palestine” line is a lie that has been set in stone by the anti-Israel forces. They don’t count Transjordan, because that would show that Israel is on the tinier percentage of Mandatory Palestine.
Now Obama is telling his aides that Netanyahu will never “do what it takes” to make peace with the Palestinians—words that are going to make for an awesome meeting between the two men today. And Obama’s speech Sunday at AIPAC—if he doesn’t cancel it out of cowardice, that is—should be another great moment in uncomfortable meetings. After all, Obama has just told Israel that they can’t keep the Temple Mount, because it was on the wrong side of the armistice line in 1949. Or, as Assemblyman Rory Lancman said:
“Let me get this straight: President Obama believes Jews should should have to return the Western Wall — the holiest site in Judaism — which they couldn’t even visit before 1967?”
The Temple Mount, Rory. The Temple Mount. If Israel goes back to the 1967 lines, then Jews will no longer be able to pray at our holiest site. But hey, the Palestinians will have their own state, and there will be no more strife in the Middle East. None at all.
Right.
Also remember that his definition of contiguous is that the “West Bank” [sic] needs to be connected to Gaza, since “Palistine” [sic] must have international borders with Jordan and Egypt. Of course, the fact that this will cut Israel in two does not need to be mentioned. The fact is that the next claim will be that Israel cannot keep the Negev because it is not “contiguous” with the State of Israel. Look what happened to “East Pakistan”, which is now called Bangladesh.
You wrote:
The thing that bothers me the most about the Obama speech is that I’m quite sure he thinks he did right by Israel.
And that seems to be John Podhoretz’s point too.
I expect the president is going to be flabbergasted at the angry response to his speech today from friends of Israel. I think he thought he had given the most pro-Israel speech of his life.
Obama has, in the last 2 days, shown himself to be both arrogant & naive in his grasp of Middle East reality.
A word to wise from
http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/ – 3.Do not divide the Land of Israel — … message about the final chapter of the Book of Joel, the warning to the nations … Joel 3:2 (which is 4:2 in the Hebrew Bible), “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.” … Let the United Nations and the United States and the European Union and the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government itself be warned. What appears like wisdom to the world – carving up the State of Israel like a Thanksgiving turkey – is direct disobediance to the Word of God and will trigger the most severe divine judgment.
>> To read the rest of this column and/or to find the links mentioned in this column, please go to http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/ — or the Hebrew blog found at http://www.joelrosenberg.co.il.
Not to worry, Meryl. Obama will force the Israelis into something like what he outlines, but he will exact from the Palestinians a solemn promise to leave the Old City and the Temple Mount in particular freely open to Jews.
After all, that seems to be the theme of his policy–concessions from the Jews and promises from the Arabs. He also has made it clear that solemn promises from previous American administrations mean nothing, but Israel should now rely on his solemn promises.
And yet…we are likely to see Israel’s reaction demonstrate again its intransigence which is the only obstacle to an outbreak of sweetness and light in the Middle East.