I didn't expect anything good to come out of President Barack Obama's AIPAC speech today. I was wrong.
The President strongly endorsed "two states for two peoples" and explained to a skeptical crowd that the status quo is Israel's worst enemy.
Politely and nicely, he stuck it to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by explaining that Bibi's faux-outrage over the '67 lines is utterly bogus. This was critical. He showed, citing history, that there is absolutely nothing new about saying that peace must be built on the '67 lines with modifications (made up by land swaps).
And AIPAC accepted it, even applauded it. The right-wing meme was destroyed, as much by AIPAC's reaction as by Obama's explanation.
Yes, he gave AIPAC the usual Israel boilerplate. He'll veto a unilaterally declared Palestinian state, etc. But all that stuff is standard and subject to change as situations change. However, the overarching message was the necessity for two states and the unsustainability of the occupation.
And AIPACapplauded. Strongly.
The President did a masterful job. The neocons are outraged. And I expect that Netanyahu, seeing AIPAC's reaction to their President, will cut his losses and back down.
Bravo, Mr. President. You even brought out the best in AIPAC.
You gave us all -- Americans, Israelis, Palestinians -- reason for hope.
You laid the groundwork. Now it is time for some serious action. This is your moment.
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Check out Michael Tomasky in Daily Beast. He thinks Netanyahu's insolent tantrum at the White House might finish him off.
Follow MJ Rosenberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mjayrosenberg
The spectacle of the right cheering on a foreign leader disrespecting our own president has been disgusting, but sadly not atypical for them.
MJ has assured us all over and over that AIPAC controls our foreign policy and that the president and congress is subservient to them.
So many "truisms" must be reevaluated...
Pardon me? So Iraq because a State of the Union in 2003, did it?
Besides, anything that gets the Neocons knickers in a knot and incites the Israeli PM to a tantrum has got to be on the right track--by default.
Eh, I refuse to get my hopes up about anything anymore. All of this brouhaha over nothing will only amount to something if Obama is prepared to make some genuinely hard choices and stick to them.
"People who still think that President Obama is not capable of advancing or fostering hope and change are not looking in the right places or at the big picture."
I hope you're right. Just not sure that I agree. Maybe in his second term.
It is about time we resolved this problem, and moved our attention to China instead of this festering sore. As it is, the real risk is that China will "buy" the defecting panicking Sheiks, and we will lose out.
Perhaps Netanyahu should think twice before slapping Americans publicly. Netanyahu’s press conference was an affront in response to unending support for Israel and to American hospitality http://bit.ly/NetanyahuStealsGenerously
For one, Israel has absolutely no incentive to agree, since Obama made it clear that there will be no US pressure on Israel.
Secondly, "swaps" are a nebulous concept which can simply mean "annexation". Under Clinton, "swap" meant that Israel took 100km2 of prime real estate and gave back 30km2 of desert.
The world has heard Obama's kind of speech a hundred times before. It won't change anything. The future role of the US is going to be what it has always been: Bankrolling Israel. Nothing else.
Once Netanyahu recovers from that burst blood vessel in his brain he's certain to spot that difference, then gleefully announce that he'll offering two falafels and a brass shekel in exchange for all the settlement blocs and - hey, whaddidItellya! - if Abbas won't agree then we all know who's not serious about peace!
Bibi may be venal he's not stupid; he'll leap at the difference between "equal" and "agreed".
After all, Israel has spent 40+years arguing over the word "the".......
Whose responsibility is it to pressure the Palestinians?