Obama Talks Israel

[philw]

you will all love this one...

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2011/s3223030.htm

ALI MOORE, PRESENTER: In his first major speech on the Middle East since the Arab uprisings, US president Barack Obama, has firmly backed the protesters and urged Palestinians and Israelis to restart the peace process.

But he says the talks should begin with the 1967 Israel borders as the basis of negotiations, angering Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who's about to arrive in Washington for a meeting at the White House.

North America correspondent Lisa Millar reports.

LISA MILLAR, REPORTER: The speech had been planned for weeks, but Barack Obama was tweaking it until the very end, delaying his arrival for 30 minutes. Despite the last-minute edits, there was no confusing the message.

BARACK OBAMA, US PRESIDENT: We have the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator.

LISA MILLAR: Accused previously of being overly cautious and hesitant over the Middle East uprisings, Barack Obama is now throwing his weight behind the protesters.

BARACK OBAMA: The people of the region have achieved more change in six months than terrorists have accomplished in decades.

LISA MILLAR: Two years ago he delivered a landmark speech from Cairo, this time the venue was the State Department at Foggy Bottom.

Nearby, American Muslim leaders waited to hear if the tone had also changed.

MAHDI BRAY, MUSLIM AMERICAN SOCIETY: Many in the Arab world, in the Muslim world don't have a lot of expectations from this president. I think there is a general feeling of speech fatigue now. I think people want to see something, some concrete action.

LISA MILLAR: They watched in silence as the president outlined plans to cancel a billion dollars in debt for Egypt and guarantee another billion dollars in loans. He promised to put economic might behind his support for infant democracies.

Their immediate reaction was positive, with conditions.

NIHAD AWAD, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: The true test for this speech is to translate it into action. Two years after the Cairo speech, people felt discouraged because of the lack of progress, now we would like to see that this speech is going to be translated into action.

LISA MILLAR: Professor Nathan Brown from George Washington University noted the absence of any mention of Saudi Arabia or Middle East nations considered US allies.

PROFESSOR NATHAN BROWN, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Well it's absolutely true that the way that Obama talked about specific countries reflected, not simply the struggle for political freedoms, liberalisation and democracy, but other American security interests.

So, he talked very, very tough about Iran and talked fairly gently about Bahrain, still with a little bit of a push, and then didn't mention Saudi Arabia at all.

LISA MILLAR: It was the president's remarks about the Middle East peace process that sparked the biggest reaction. He was almost at the end of his 50-minute speech when he suggested Israelis and Palestinians should restart talks, using 1967 borders as the basis of their negotiations.

That's something the Palestinians have pushed for and Israel has opposed, saying it will leave Jewish settlements outside those borders.

In an interview immediately after the speech, the president acknowledged it wouldn't be easy.

BARACK OBAMA: Our argument is, let's get started on a conversation on territory and about security. That doesn't resolve all the issues, you still end up having the problem of Jerusalem, and you still end up having the problem of refugees.

LISA MILLAR: Professor Nathan Brown says Barack Obama's language is significant but the speech itself may prove to be irrelevant.

NATHAN BROWN: It's an annunciation of American position, that is utterly divorced from any regional diplomatic process. And for that reason I think the speech itself will have very little effect.

LISA MILLAR: It will certainly make for tense talks when the Israeli prime minister arrives at the White House.

Lisa Millar, Lateline.

[tombogan03884]

He supports every enemy and screws every friend this Country has.
He needs to reread his Kennedy quotes. 

[Pathfinder]

bho's actions toward Israel are seriously tantamount to throwing gasoline on a fire others are desperately trying to put out.

I know the Italians hung Mussolini upside down after they shot him, but I recently discovered WHY watching a show on the Tarot cards. It has nothing to do with rank humiliation. Or maybe it does. Anyhow, it is a quaint, old Italian custom to hang traitors to the people by the foot. Hence the Tarot card image of the upside down hanging man. And hence that wonderful image of that miserable tyrant hanging with his mistress from the gas station light pole in Milan in 1945

Sorry folks, stream of consciousness thinking here. I do not mean to imply, nor should you infer, any connection whatsoever between bho's actions toward our friends around the world, and the fate of a petty, self-serving, pompous stuffed-shirt fascist like Mussolini.

[Ichiban]

Telling Israel that they need to retreat to the 1967 borders is like telling the people living next to a crack house that they can't have bars on their windows.  This clown has no grasp of history or human nature.

[jnevis]

Telling Israel that they need to retreat to the 1967 borders is like telling the people living next to a crack house that they can't have bars on their windows.  This clown has no grasp of history or human nature.

The headline on Yahoo was that Netanyahu basically said that the White House, specifically BHO, was "out of touch," REALLY?  He's just NOW figuring that out?

[Sponsor]

[Solus]

Look at the map of the place back in '67. 

Putting it back there would give the folks who have sworn to push Israel into the sea a foothold in the center of the country, almost dividing it in two.

We know how it worked out the last time they DID have that foothold.

No way on this Earth you could expect Israel to allow that situation to occur again. 

And we thought BHO was playing free and easy with our border security.

The mind boggles......
 

[Ichiban]

Oh, but the Palestinians would have to promise to respect Israel's borders.   

I'm sure they forget about that part where they have sworn to destroy Israel.

[Pathfinder]

Oh, but the Palestinians would have to promise to respect Israel's borders.   

I'm sure they forget about that part where they have sworn to destroy Israel.

They don't need to forget that part - they are allowed to lie to infidels to get what they want. So they will promise to respect the borders, and then build up the assault troops to try to finish what they set out to do.

[Solus]

They had the chance to respect the borders back in 67 and they didn't.  That is how they lost the land. 

I don't think a "do over" is a good idea here

[Timothy]

I haven't seen the clip but Netanyahu basically told the the President to shove it up his ass today.. In the oval office!

Great stuff...