By Ted Belman
Daniel Pipes had this to say in the Washington Times:
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Then, in his Jerusalem speech last week, Obama suddenly and unexpectedly adopted in full the Israeli demand: “Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state.”
That sentence breaks important new ground and cannot readily be undone. It also makes for excellent policy, for without such recognition, Palestinian acceptance of Israel is hollow, indicating only a willingness to call the future state they dominate “Israel” rather than “Palestine.”
While not the only shift in policy announced during Obama’s trip (another: telling the Palestinians not to set preconditions for negotiations), this one looms largest because it starkly contravenes the Palestinian consensus. Bardawil may hyperbolically assert that it “shows that Obama has turned his back to all Arabs” but those ten words in fact establish a readiness to deal with the conflict’s central issue. They likely will be his most important, most lasting, and most constructive contribution to Arab-Israeli diplomacy.
Unfortunately he is sticking with ’67 line with swaps and a divided Jerusalem
@ Paul:
Ovomit lies and he cannot be trusted.
Forget what he says watch what he does.
Remember he is an anti-Semite pretending to be a *Christian (*that is for political reasons).
The administration can begin by moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of the Sovereign Jewish Nation of Israel.
opensoc Said:
opensoc Said:
Not only IS Israel Jewish, it also IS a state, a country, a nation. Not WILL BE Jewish. Not WILL BE a state. IS NOW BOTH Jewish and a state.
How many people fawning over Obama in Israel imagine him respecting the integrity of Israel as a state when he DOES NOT.
@ Paul:
You are right : one can easily take expresions at face value, not realizing what is hidden behind them. Israel IS Jewish, and Obama should have said so.
Bear Klein Said:
At this point, with all the legalistic threats and delegitimization that Israel faces, I’d say more careful wording is suggested. I’d be more comfortable with wording that specifically describes Israel as a nation and not just a homeland.
Do you remember those press conferences with the administration where the press was trying to pin down the representative as to whether the administration saw Jerusalem as the capital of Israel? And the response was to place it as subject to negotiation. This recent statement “… Israel will be a Jewish state …” puts that in an entirely different light. Because if the administration sees Israel’s status as a country as being subject to negotiation, then so also is its capital subject to negotiation. The real view of the Obama administration was completely missed. Those people asking the questions assumed the administration accepted Israel as a nation. It does not.
It gets worse. The question of Palestinian nationalism now becomes entirely different. Most people, myself included, saw the issue as Israel as a country giving up parts of its legitimate territory in the interest of peace. This is a bogus argument, even at this level. But clearly the administration does not see Israel as a country at all, but as an “entity” (We’ve heard that before haven’t we?) whose existence is not resolved outside of the existence of a Palestinian state.
Delegitimizing Israel is no longer just a way of undermining Israel’s self interest as a country, but represents political progress in undermining Israel’s existence as a country. The argument that Palestinians are as deserving of self security as Israel is a strictly cynical argument, since the identity of the argument does not see Israel as a sovereign power at all.
This is bad, really, really bad.
@ Paul:
Some of the definitions of a homeland are a “state” or a “state of a particular people or ethnic group”
Mike Perloff Said:
What about the precise wording? Is there anywhere in that expressly describing this “homeland” as a state? At what point exactly did Israel become acknowledged as an actual country and not just a Jewish neighborhood?
It’s BS, he came to assassinate Israel. Probably discussing Bibi’s payoff.
What most of the writers are forgetting is that Israel is unique amonst all the countries formed after World War 1 both in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It’s foundation documents state that it was being allotted land from the dissolved Ottoman Empire land as a Jewish homeland because of the historical Jewish connections to that particular land.
Phooey. Again, what he said,
And here is what he should have said,
Palestinians must recognize that Israel is a Jewish state.
Does anyone doubt that he minces words this carefully? If Obama does not now recognize or insist that everyone else recognize that Israel is a Jewish state now, then the existence of Israel as a Jewish state is up for negotiation and the terms under which it becomes a Jewish state is subject to terms set by some second party. In fact, under this language, the existence of Israel as a state at all is called into question.
Put away the champagne, things have not changed, they have probably gotten worse.
This sort of good news bad news! Good News Abbas probably will stick to saying Israel must release prisoners, 67 lines and stop building in Israel before he is willing to provide Israel with great honor of talking to Livni face to face. So there will not be any talks. Keep your fingers crossed.
Abbas will say they tried but negotiations failed. He will sue Israel maybe at the ICC? Or is this another bluff? Maybe he will resign for the 99th time and give Bibi the keys to the Muhtah at Ramallah?
Time then to declare the “TWO STATE SOLUTION DEAD” Israel should then implement Bennetts’ plan and annex Area C. Desolve the PA then whether he turns the keys over to Bibi or not.