Has that same feel.
"Obama backs 1967 borders as basis for peace agreement; Israelis protest shift in policy" May 20, 2011|By Mark Landler and Steven Lee Myers, New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Israeli government immediately protested....
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel held an angry phone call with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday morning....
Israeli officials continued to lobby the administration until right before Obama arrived at the State Department for the address, and the president himself made changes in the text that delayed his appearance by 35 minutes. White House officials said he did not change anything under Israeli pressure.
They really expect us to believe that?
Obama’s reference to Israel’s borders came toward the end of a somber, 45-minute address that sought to articulate an overarching framework for the disparate US responses to the Arab Spring of democracy demonstrations, which has taken a dark turn as the euphoria of popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt dimmed amid the violent crackdowns in Bahrain and Syria, a civil war in Libya, and political stalemate in Yemen.
The president offered a blunt critique of Arab governments and, without promising any changes in policy to confront repressive ones more aggressively, sought to assure protesters that they were squarely aligned with democratic US values in a region where the strategic interests of the United States have routinely trumped its values....
At one level, by putting the United States on record as supporting the 1967 borders as the starting point for negotiations over a Palestinian state, Obama was simply endorsing reality: Middle East analysts say a new state would inevitably be drawn on the basis of Israel’s boundaries before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, which created the contours of today’s Middle East.
I thought I would leave this advertisement up so you would know who is bringing you this report.
Ads by Google
Pro-Israel Americans: Help keep Israel secure by ensuring U.S. support remains strong www.AIPAC.org
Related: Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
All of a sudden the newspaper makes sense.
Israel’s victory over Egypt and other Arab neighbors in that war expanded its control over territory in the West Bank and Gaza inhabited by millions of Palestinians, creating a greater Israel — including all of the capital, Jerusalem — but one that oversees a resentful occupied population.
Obama also noted that Israel and the Palestinians would have to swap territory on either side of that border to account for large Jewish settlements that have taken root in the West Bank since 1967.
But the shift moves the United States a step closer to the position of the Palestinians and is viewed as vital to them because it means the Americans implicitly back their view that new Israeli settlement construction will have to be reversed, or compensated for, in talks over the borders for a new Palestinian state. Some analysts said Obama’s shift was less strategic than tactical, seeking to lure the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, as a way of heading off their campaign to seek international recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.
Yup, ONCE AGAIN this is REALLY ABOUT SERVING ISRAEL'S INTERESTS!
“He’s moving into a crisis-management mode, laying out principles to preserve the two-state solution and to prevent a UN resolution on a Palestinian state,’’ said Martin S. Indyk, the director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.
Obama expressed opposition to the Palestinian statehood effort, saying, “Symbolic efforts to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won’t create an independent state.’’
Israel is already isolated, as is AmeriKa.
He also made several other gestures to Netanyahu, highlighting the security threats to Israel. Obama’s reference to a “nonmilitarized’’ Palestinian state is likely to dismay Palestinians, who have long said that such matters should be decided in negotiations.
That is SUCH a NON-STARTER!
Even the SMALLEST COUNTRY in Africa has an army.
What ARROGANCE in telling a NATION they can NOT HAVE a DEFENSE FORCE!!
The president also said that the recent unity agreement between the two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, raised “profound and legitimate questions from Israel.
“How can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist?’’ he said, referring to Hamas....
And all that AmeriKan hardware the Israelis are blasting Palestinians with?
Bulldozing homes seems to be saying you have no right to exist, doesn't it?
Never mind that it is also a damn lie.
"Hamas would abide by any PLO negotiations"
Sigh.
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No one is fooled, sorry:
"In Mideast, speech greeted with skepticism" May 20, 2011|By Ernesto Londono and Liz Sly, Washington Post
CAIRO — President Obama’s vow that the United States will “stand squarely on the side of those who are reaching for their rights’’ in the Middle East was received with a mix of apathy and skepticism by people in the region who watched the speech last night. '
I didn't watch it; I never watch AmeriKan TV news these days. It's worse than the paper.
Some said they saw little news or any discernible shift in policy from an administration that has struggled to formulate a coherent response to the wave of popular uprisings roiling the region this spring.
“My hope was for an unqualified apology’’ for Obama’s perceived support of dictators, said Hossam Bahgat, a Cairo human rights activist who was among a handful of people who got up from his table to watch the speech at a popular downtown cafe....
Egyptian historian Khaled Fahmy said he was underwhelmed by the president’s words yesterday and remained unconvinced that the speech represented a strong endorsement of democracy.
“Despite all the talk about ‘Let’s put US values before US interest,’ it’s been US interests that have been driving US policy,’’ in recent months, said Fahmy, who chairs the history department of the American University in Cairo.
On the streets of Khan elKhalili, a historic market in the central Islamic Cairo district, a few people stopped in front of TV sets tuned to the Egyptian channel Al Masriya, which broadcast the president’s speech.
One man, an accountant, murmured that Islam and its holy book, the Koran, do not sponsor violence.
“Religion of peace,’’ he said, before walking away.
Obama’s strong words on Bahrain, a US ally that has brutally crushed its democracy movement, were welcomed by activists....
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I'm sure it had a better reception at home:
"Local activists judge good, bad in new approach to peace" May 20, 2011|By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON — Was it a step in the right direction? Or a disappointing retreat? Did it herald a new White House approach to Middle East peace? Or was it just the same old talk?
***************
So who did they speak to?
Alan M. Dershowitz, a law professor at Harvard and vigorous advocate for Israel....
Just like the paper:
Ads by Google
Pro-Israel Americans:Help keep Israel secure by ensuring U.S. support remains strong www.AIPAC.org
That ad is one every page I've seen.
Janette Hillis-Jaffe, the New England political director for J Street, a Jewish group....
AIPAC-lite.
Alex Safian, associate director of Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, whose organization was formed to monitor how Israel is portrayed in the US media, said the speech was “verbiage without any substance.’’
Related: CAMERA
A real balanced range of voices, huh?
***************
Salma Abu Ayyash, a math teacher at Roxbury Community College and cofounder of the Boston Palestine Film Festival, was disappointed with the speech for a very different reason. Ayyash, who listened on her car radio, said Obama wasn’t bold enough in his support for Palestinians. She said that she was “thrilled’’ to hear Obama champion the rights of Arabs in Libya, Bahrain, and Egypt but that the United States is hypocritical when it comes to the Palestinians.
Told you.
“Everybody needs to be treated with the same standards,’’ she said. “I am of Palestinian origin, though, and I feel that the US foreign policy has always come short when it comes to Palestine… . It has come to the point where it is becoming absurd.’’
Obama supports a demilitarized Palestinian state but yesterday criticized the Palestinian effort to get UN recognition for their state, calling it a “symbolic’’ move aimed at isolating Israel.
Diana Butto, a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a former legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team, called the speech a “missed opportunity.’’
“Obama had the ability to set out US values regarding the Arab world in a universal and consistent manner,’’ she wrote in an e-mail from the Palestinian city of Ramallah, in the West Bank, where she watched the speech at a cafe with friends. “He spoke of self-determination for the Arab world but neglected to understand that the most egregious violation of self-determination is Israel’s denial of freedom to Palestinians.’’
You likin' the AmeriKan media puppet show?
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"Palestinians doubtful on talks after Israel rejects US proposal" by Karin Laub, Associated Press / May 22, 2011
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Obama and Netanyahu are to address the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC today and tomorrow.
Related: Some Dare Call It Treason
I would.
The Israeli leader also plans to address Congress on Tuesday. A White House spokesman has said Obama will speak of the strong bond between Israel and the United States but not deliver a policy speech.
The strain in the relationship became apparent on Friday after a two-hour White House meeting between Obama and Netanyahu. In front of TV cameras, Netanyahu at times seemed to lecture Obama and suggested the president’s ideas are unrealistic, saying that “peace based on illusions’’ will quickly fail....
In Israel, senior officials played down the potential damage to Israeli-US relations following the clash over Obama’s peace vision....
Yup, it's ALL a BIG SHOW!
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In Israel, senior officials played down the potential damage to Israeli-US relations following the clash over Obama’s peace vision....
Yup, it's ALL a BIG SHOW!
--more--"
Also see: Netanyahu dismisses Obama’s proposals
Potential GOP candidates criticize Obama’s approach
Guilty verdicts in killing of Israeli child
That article never made print. Interesting.
Globe Editorial Deaths at Palestinian border protests hurt Israel’s security
Related: Nakba a Nightmare For Israel
Month of Middle East Peace Ends As Predicted
I expect the same result this time.
