The discussion over the Obama reference to the 1967 lines (a.k.a. the 1949 Armistice Lines) is missing the point. Obama’s defense of what he said at AIPAC today is also beside the point. The fact that other presidents and Israeli prime ministers mentioned the 1967 lines, with land swaps, as a reference point, simply doesn’t matter.
The arguments over whether Obama said what every other president has said are unimportant.
The only thing that matters is how the Palestinians interpret what Obama said. And here’s how they interpret it:
Fatah Central Committee member Saeb Erekat said Sunday that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should agree to the two-state solution based on 1967 borders “we shall turn over a new leaf.”
Erekat stressed that the Palestinian leadership is waiting for an official statement from Netanyahu regarding the principle Obama outlined in his speech, despite the fact that the prime minister has already rejected the US proposal saying that 1967 borders were indefensible.
“If Netanyahu agrees, we shall turn over a new leaf. If he doesn’t then there is no point talking about a peace process. We’re saying it loud and clear.”
The Palestinians now refuse to talk to Israel until they get everything they’ve been pushing for these last 44 years. Obama hit the “reset” button, all right—he’s reset the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to 1967.
That’s strikes one and two. As has been pointed out by others, Obama took the finishing line and turned it into the starting point for negotiations. The Palestinians will not negotiation unless Israel agrees to start with the 1949 Armistice Lines. As for Hamas recognizing Israel, well—let’s hear what they have to say:
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded to US President Barack Obama AIPAC speech Sunday, saying that “the American government has failed in the past, and will continue to fail in its attempt to convince Hamas to recognize the Israeli occupation.
Strike three.
In his speech to AIPAC today, Obama said that no country should have to negotiate with a group sworn to its destruction and then turned around and said that Israel still has to negotiate with the PA. He wants to have it both ways. But of course, the onus of the effort is all on Israel. He is not demanding that Mahmoud Abbas cut his ties with terrorist groups. He is not even suggesting that American support of the PA will change now that it is in league with an open terrorist group. No, it is Israel that must make the bold sacrifices for peace—not the Palestinians.
But the Palestinians have shown, again and again, that they will make no sacrifice for peace. Mahmoud Abbas twice turned down a Palestinian state, even one that included Jerusalem (in the waning days of the Olmert administration). They don’t want a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines. They want it on the 1947 lines. That’s what Obama, Hillary Clinton, Susan Powers, and his Middle East advisers don’t want to see. But the facts are there, to those who are actually looking.
Obama just set back the cause of Mideast peace decades.
Obama has set back everything he’s touched since he showed up. The economy to pre-Reagan numbers, foreign policy to the Cold War ’60’s, race relations to the late 60’s, early 70’s. Obama should be forever the poster child for the complete, utter, total failure of the political movement we call “Liberalism…”