President Barack Obama
Think about this. Israel is only 45 miles wide. The 1967 borders would reduce Israel to only 8 miles wide. Jerusalem would be completely under Palestinian control. How could Israel possible defend itself or survive?
I believe in peace through strength. The Palestinians won't come to the table until they're clear they can't obtain a state in any other way. They may need another war to remind them of it; they're certainly pointing in that direction, with lots of Iranian prodding.
The Israelis have spent the last 20 years trying to accommodate them in one way or another, and have nothing to show for it except rockets from Gaza and Lebanon, a strengthened Hamas and Hezbollah, and Fatah making agreements with Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement rejecting Obama's idea of pulling Israel back into the 1960's.
"Israel appreciates President Obama's commitment to peace. Israel believes that for peace to endure between Israelis and Palestinians, the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and only Jewish state. That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of U.S. commitments made to Israel in 2004. ... Among other things, those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines," the statement reads.
"Israel believes that in order for peace to prevail, the establishment of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the State of Israel's existence. The Palestinians, and not only the United States, must recognize Israel as the Jewish people's nation-state," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Obama on Friday at the White House.
Obama really put his foot in it this time. 1967 borders! What made him pick that? Why not just send all the Israelis to Madagascar or someplace, since they won't be able to defend their positions below the Golan Heights if they give that up.
The Israelis fought for and won the West Bank against Arab armies. Wars often settle border problems and the Israelis have built settlements to consolidate their position in the West Bank. If they want to give up some of it to a Palestinian state, then fine -- but it must be voluntary and the crazy terrorists in Hamas and Hezbollah don't seem able to get rid of the idea that the Jews should be exterminated from Israel.
The problem persists with terrorist elements, Hamas and Hazbollah. Those people can't be negotiated with. They just want to kill Israelis and drive them out of Israel.
Hamas and Hezbollah (supported by Iran) still want to take Israel away from the Jews and drive them out. Obama doesn't seem to understand that, or if he does he considers placating the terrorist groups to be more important than support for the only democracy in the Middle East.
There can't be peace with those two sides living next to each other, not if one side vows to destroy the other.
If the U.N. votes for a 1967 border plan, why should Israel accept that vote? What is the U.N. going to do if Israel doesn't accept it? Are they going to go to war against Israel? Is Obama going to support a violent distribution of land to some Palestinians, at least some of whom are terrorists?
Go back to 1967? This can and will not ever happen. Obama just did this to pre-empt Netanyahu when he comes to speak. Having seen Netanyahu handle himself in the past, I very much doubt that this 1967 border thing will cut any ice with Israel.
The U.N. did a good thing in 1948 (although they might have felt guilty about not doing much about the Jewish persecution in WWII), but right away Israel had to fight all the Arabs to keep their territory, and they had to fight for it several subsequent times, making some Arab armies look like babes in the woods. Why should they give up territory when their enemies still are only interested in driving them into the sea?
This is just another example of Obama not being a serious leader. He knows that by throwing in the requirement for the '67 borders to be in place, Israel can not accept those conditions, thereby allowing Obama's propagandists in the mainstream press corps to hold Israel 100% responsible for the inevitable and predictable failure of this effort.
It's so idiotic even the Palestinians can't muster any respect for it because they recognize it for exactly what it is, Obama's effort to look important without really doing anything nor taking any risks. This is Obama's specialty, setting the rules of the game so that he is never held accountable for anything.
Israel has always been alone, but now that is nakedly apparent. First, Europe abandoned it. Now the current U.S. President is abandoning it.
Israelis have been through tough times before, and they know how to survive them. They will not let their enemies push them into the sea. Israel will only have peace when the bloodthirsty people surrounding it recognize that they can't get what they want through violence.
Peace in the Middle East would be easy with just one step: an acknowledgement by the surrounding states of Israel's right to exist. This is what Obama should have said.
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