Obama speaks truth to Israelis and Palestinians

President Obama could have played it safe on his trip to Israel and a side visit to West Bank by uttering some platitudes and then trying to exert some influence behind the scenes.

But, like his at-home strategy of trying to influence Congress by appealing directly to the American people, he did something similar on the trip.  He took a more activist position of challenging both sides to restart the peace process.

His trip to the West Bank preceded a major speech to an audience of 2000, mostly students and liberal activists.  So it was a supportive audience;  the important thing was that it was televised.  

When talking with the Palestinians, he endorsed their right to their own homeland, but he urged them not to continue their demand for an end to new settlement building as a precondition to talks.

And in his speech to Israeli's, which was aimed at the younger generation, he stressed that a peace process was both morally just and in Israel's own best interest.   And, although he urged them to stop the settlements and to empathize with the Palestianians as an occupied people, he stopped short of demanding that they halt the settlements as a precondition of talks.

Here are some significant quotes:

"Israel is rooted not just in history and tradition, but also in a simple and profound idea:  the idea that people deserve to be free in a land of their own."

"If we're going to succeed, . . . both sides are going to have to think anew. . . .  It is the duty of the Israeli government to at least halt the activity, so we can speak of the issues. . . .  [Continuing the settlements in the West Bank makes it] . . . very difficult to square with a two-state solution."

"Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. . . .  Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land."

He urged his audience to become involved and push their government to take the risk:

"Speaking as a politician, I can promise you this:  political leaders will not take risks if the people do not demand that they do so."

Now, as a side issue, we liberal/progressives need to take heed of that last remark:  As President, Obama is not going to take the big risks at home unless we demand that he do so.

Ralph