Obama On Pre-1967 Israeli Borders – New GOP 2012 Presidential Candidate Herman Cain Is Not Able.
Vote Able Not Cain. Yesterday, six hours before the rapture, Herman Cain announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination for President. (For his views on himself, go here to his campaign site.) Today, Mr. Cain is still among us, so he’s non-raptured and thus here only until October 21st when, according to Chief Rapturee Harold Camping, the world will end, and consequently, all presidential hopefuls’ aspirations.
In any event, Mr. Cain took on President Obama yesterday of FOX’s Fozzie-voiced Neil Cavuto Show. His gripe? President Obama’s recent statements indicating that an Israel-Palestinean peace accord “ought to based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps,” a point the President reiterated just a few minutes ago at The American Israel Public Affairs Committee(AIPAC) Policy Conference in D.C. during his major [Click “READ MORE”]
address on America’s policies on Israel. Among the topics addressed were America’s strong commitment to Israel’s security, and it’s unwavering resolve that “’Israel’s existence must not be a subject for debate,’ and ‘efforts to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States.'”
The most riveting moment, however, was President Obama’s explanation of the term “pre-1967 borders with land swaps” which caused a firestorm following his meeting with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day before. At the photo op following their meeting, during what has been a perpetually peaceful sit down and wrap up, Netanyahu dressed down the President. Why? The day before their pow wow President Obama had addressed the State Department on Middle East policy. During it, while commenting on the Israel-Palestine peace process, he stated:
We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine ought to based on the 1967 lines with mutually afreed swaps, so that clear and recognized borders are established for each state. [White House transcript at WSJ]
Israel caused a firestorm. of protest when appeared to dress down the president directly in front of the cameras at the phot op after their meeting. Netanyahu’s distancing from “pre-1967 borders” as a basis for negitians wit the Palestinians could be measured in light years.
[I]t was my reference to the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps that received the lion’s share of the attention. And since my position has been misrepresented several times, let me reaffirm what “1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps” means.
By definition, it means that the parties themselves – Israelis and Palestinians – will negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967. It is a well known formula to all who have worked on this issue for a generation. It allows the parties themselves to account for the changes that have taken place over the last forty-four years, including the new demographic realities on the ground and the needs of both sides. The ultimate goal is two states for two peoples. Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people, and the state of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people; each state enjoying self-determination, mutual recognition, and peace.
If there’s a controversy, then, it’s not based in substance. What I did on Thursday was to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately. I have done so because we cannot afford to wait another decade, or another two decades, or another three decades, to achieve peace. The world is moving too fast. The extraordinary challenges facing Israel would only grow. Delay will undermine Israel’s security and the peace that the Israeli people deserve.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/05/obamas-speech-aipac-prepared-text#ixzz1N68nSmcV
There is nothing new about that, the camp david, taba and 2008 peace offers all used that formulation. What’s new is that Obama now recognizes that the process must proceed in steps, borders and security first, then J’lem and Palestinian RoR after that, and CBMs all throughout the process. All sounds good to me, I listened to the speech and particularly like the part where he called out Assad.
