Obama and the Jews

In his address a few days ago on the Middle East, Obama said quite clearly what has been our government's behind-the-scenes policy for some time: the 1967 borders between Israel and the Palestinians should be the place to begin negotiations for mutually agreed on land swaps.

Those who prefer to see this as a significant change in policy, those who interpret anything less than 100% harmony with Israeli policy as a betrayal of an ally, and those who willfully distort the truth for political purposes are all expressing alarm at Obama's "mistake" or even his "betrayal" of our support for Isreal.

It is nothing of the kind. Obama addressed AIPAC today and told this influential pro-Israel lobby that he had said in public only what has been being said by both sides behind the scenes -- and that his remarks have been distorted in order to scare people into opposition.

He reminded them that he did NOT say that Israel had to accept the 1967 lines as the final borders; he said that was the place to start negotiating what the border in a two-state solution would be, based on mutually-agreed-upon land swaps that take account of current demographic realities.

**There is nothing new here, except transparency and honesty. **

In other words, it takes some account of the Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank (which many people feel are illegal; but that is a point of sharp disagreement), but it does not simply cede that land to Israel without compensating the Palestinians by swapping some other land that would be agreeable to them.

He also said -- please take note -- that there is no way the peace can be negotiated while Hamas, as part of the elected representatives of the people, continues to call for the destruction of Israel.

In speaking to AIPAC, Obama also called upon Israel to take steps toward peace in order to offset the push at the U.N. to isolate Israel, saying:

"This is not idealism or naivete. It's a hard-headed recognition that a genuine peace is the only path that will ultimately provide for a peaceful Palestine as the homeland of the Palestinian people and a Jewish state of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

"The march to isolate Israel internationally -- and the impulse of the Palestinians to abandon negotiations -- will continue to gain momentum in the absence of a credible peace process and alternative . . . [and] the basis for negotiations has to hold out the prospect of success."

To my ears, both speeches (last week and today at AIPAC) were fair and balanced. They were also courageous because Obama said what others have been afraid to proclaim openly, and he discussed it directly with those (AIPAC) who would be most opposed.

Now -- this is the man that Republicans claim is a weak leader and has an ill-defined foreign policy, the man who one conservative pundit wanted to replace with Nut so there would be an "adult" in the White House.

HA !! See how long that delusion lasted. Nut has already proved himself incapable of even handling a soft-ball tv interview without tripping all over his "grand ideas."

Ralph