obama's israel stance (what will FOX do with it?)

[mnaz]

at the risk of stirring up a hornets' nest..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13879652

actually, this goes back a couple months, when obama articulated a firmer u.s. position re: negotiations in the israeli-palestinian conflict.

...President Obama hasn't made the process any easier. His apparently personal decision, late in the day, to include in the May speech a reference to the peace process and in particular a solution based on the 1967 borders infuriated the Israelis. "We felt like it was an ambush," an Israeli cabinet minister told me. "What seems clear at the moment is that America's most important ally doesn't have a voice in the inner circle.

"Netanyahu is a disaster. Everybody knows that," the PLO member said. "I don't know how in his right mind he thinks he can deceive everybody all the time - except the Americans, who are willing accomplices. They do want to be deceived.

And how much the GOP-dominated Congress appears to love Netanyahu and his uncompromising stances...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13553575

His speech to Congressional lawmakers was punctuated by around 30 standing ovations. Some of the biggest came when he listed the things Palestinians would have to accept to make a deal with him. "Jerusalem must never again be divided, it must remain the united capital of Israel," he said to waves of applause.

(palestinians want a capital in east jerusalem).

Even when he spoke of giving up land that has been occupied and illegally settled since it was captured in the 1967 Middle East war, he chose a defiant tone. Using the biblical names for the West Bank, he told Congress "you have to understand this - in Judea and Samaria, the Jewish people are not foreign occupiers".

The reception Mr Netanyahu had from Congress shows why he feels politically strong enough not just to ignore but to reject President Barack Obama's suggestion that Israel's permanent borders should be more or less what they were before the 1967 war, adjusted by land swaps. . . The president fixed him with an unsmiling, almost unblinking stare as he spoke.

[Steve Plonk]

Mnaz, It is my understanding that East Jerusalem being a capital of "Palestine"
isn't negotiable. Hardly any Israelis want Jerusalem divided in any way, shape
or fashion. Netanyahu's government has continued building the separation
walls and I think that the Palestinians don't want to be part of Israel, so it
makes no difference.

For years, Israel has insisted on having "defendable borders". Israelis are still
concerned with this. Obama's insisting on 1967 borders is not yet being taken
seriously. Portions of "Palestine" will be subdivided and will continue to be.
Heck, the "gaza strip" has practically cordoned itself off by the behavior of
those folks within that area. (Fox news is practically irrelevant and I don't care what they say because they slant news depending upon which way the wind is
blowing.) It is an idiot wind in the holy land at the moment. Palestinians
themselves can't agree on anything, let alone the Israelis. There has to
be a border compromise somewhere. But East Jerusalem is important to
Israelis like Bethlehem is to Christians. The Muslims have usurped control
of East Jerusalem, thinking Islam has all the say so. No one should have
control...The holy sites should be declared world heritage sites and be
demilitarized, period. Everyone should be able to visit holy sites no matter
what their religion is.

I think there needs to be a sharing of jurisdiction and all holy sites should be open to all. I have said that for years, but it makes no difference. People
have scoffed at my ideas, except some very close to me. We used to discuss
these same issues around the dinner table back in 1956.

Temple Mount should be open to ALL. Bethlehem should be open to all. The "Way of the Cross" & the "Wailing Wall" should be open to all. There needs to be a permanent ceasefire in the areas of the holy sites and it needs to start immediately. Folks in these areas should be able to respecfully visit each others area without reprisals and without arms and ammo. The United Nations could help police the area better than they have been doing so far..."Give peace a chance", that's all I'm saying, to quote John Lennon.
(Also see my thread, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem" in my "Life in the Horse Lane" Column, in the columns forum.)