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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| White House seeks Israeli agreement to negotiate on 1967 lines |
| 2011-06-13 |
| The White House is pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly adopt President Obama’s view that Israel’s pre-1967 borders should be the basis for future peace talks. A senior administration official Friday told American Jewish leaders that the request for Israel to endorse the president’s peace principles was part of an effort to head off Palestinian plans to declare an independent state at the United Nations in September. Steven Simon, the new White House National Security Council senior director for the Middle East and North Africa, said he was looking to get both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government to adopt Mr. Obama’s “principles as a basis for negotiation,” according to a recording of the call played for The Washington Times. Mr. Obama said last month, “the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.” But the president has also rejected a set of U.S.-Israel understandings made during the Bush administration that tacitly accepted construction in some Jerusalem suburbs over the 1967 line. Mr. Obama’s position would effectively reopen border negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that had been mostly settled in the last round of peace talks that ended in 2008. The request of Mr. Netanyahu to publicly endorse those lines was made June 6 to the prime minister’s top peace negotiator, Yitzhak Molcho, at a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the National Security Council, according to an Israeli diplomat based in Jerusalem. The diplomatic effort shows Mr. Obama is now ready to begin imposing general principles on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a tactic that until now the White House had avoided. Mr. Simon, who served as the Clinton White House’s top counterterrorism official, said the United States had about a month to head off the Palestinian plan to declare a state during the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting set for September. “We have a month to see if we can work something out with the Israelis and Palestinians as accepting these principles as a basis for negotiations,” he said. “If that happens we are somewhat confident that the Palestinians will drop what they intend to do in the U.N.” Mr. Simon said Palestinians in general were supportive of the idea. “We are working with the Israeli government to see whether they can accept these principles as a basis for negotiations,” he said. Nonetheless, Mr. Simon said the United States would oppose a Palestinian unilateral declaration at the United Nations, regardless of whether Israel adopted the Obama principles. He also said that the Palestinian leadership was divided on whether to proceed with the unilateral declaration in September. Palestinian leaders have long said the 1967 lines, or the de facto borders of Israel prior to the 1967 Six-Day War, should be the basis of negotiations. But since Israel’s victory in the war, successive governments have built Jewish suburbs in and around Jerusalem. Both Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed privately in 2008 talks, that most of these suburbs would remain part of Israel after a peace agreement, according to a Palestinian negotiation record first disclosed by the Al Jazeera news organization. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #29 I say fine Mr. President - just as soon at you give Texas back to the Mexicans. Tit for TaT Posted by Chief Don't give him any ideas, Chief.... |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-06-13 23:50 |
| #28 I believe the proper response in Hebrew sounds like "fah-que". |
| Posted by: whitecollar redneck 2011-06-13 23:41 |
| #27 And we shouldn't let it pass that the Hildebeast is no friend of Israel either. Indeed. It's just that, back when she was the junior senator of New York State, she knew which side her bread was buttered on. Now her bread is buttered -- rather thinly, it must be admitted, and without any jam at all -- in the White House kitchen, which she is to enter from the servants' entrance after thoroughly wiping her feet. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-06-13 23:04 |
| #26 I say fine Mr. President - just as soon at you give Texas back to the Mexicans. Tit for TaT |
| Posted by: Chief 2011-06-13 22:10 |
| #25 That last point: isn't that why we have a Secretary of State, diplomats, protocol officers, and the like? We're supposed to have a whole Department of State whose job it is to get all these things done, and done right, in the background before the Prez comes up with a 'spontaneous idea'. This is what happens when you have czars running the executive branch. And we shouldn't let it pass that the Hildebeast is no friend of Israel either. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2011-06-13 22:03 |
| #24 amen |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-06-13 20:07 |
| #23 If O had his head on straight (and what a hypothesis that is!!), he would have privately discussed this with the Israeli govt before floating this one in the wind, and embarrassing himself and others. Now all he did was pi$$ another ally and emboldened Israel's and our enemies. Nice job. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-06-13 20:05 |
| #22 I get that. We need to note that the US Government Executive office's policy does not reflect the American people's wishes as shown by the latest polls, and this Arab-loving asshole will get that poll in a more formal manner next November |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-06-13 20:03 |
| #21 The "We" I refer to, is the collective country. "We", through the efforts of others, landed this stinking fish, and "We" are stuck with him and his insane policies with disastrous consequence. And we-the-responsible-ones have to clean up the mess that the "rest-of-us" brought upon all of us. Ah feel youah pain, Commodore. I really do. When the "we" bought a bag of something, and we opened it up and it smelled like sh*t, the smell of corruption reflects no boundaries. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-06-13 20:00 |
| #20 what's this "we", Al-Aska? I didn't vote for the POS, I actively work against his re-election, and I totally support Israel. He DOES NOT represent us. He barely represents himself. Bibi schooled his ass |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-06-13 19:35 |
| #19 Israelis are fortunate to have Bibi as a leader in charge right now. Obama is asking Israel to cede everything to people whose goal is to destroy the country. Israel cedes everything in return for hope and change. That is about it. No country can guarantee security except Israel. What a fool's game. Unbelievable in the past. Believable now. How low we all have fallen. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-06-13 19:17 |
| #18 Land won with the blood during war is actually retained and becomes part of their country The US did used to do that too - in our first century of existence. Various Indian wars and the Mexican-American War come to mind. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-06-13 16:11 |
| #17 "Maybe he's starting to come unglued." This idiot was never glued in the first place. He is the furthest thing we have had from a statesman at the helm in a long time. He's gotten petulant (again) because Bibi handed him his a$$ from three different directions, and if Obean were to get his way, Israel will cease to exist or many more Israelis would die than already have because of the 1967 borders. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-06-13 15:58 |
| #16 Jan ROLOL :) |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-06-13 15:34 |
| #15 maybe we should go back to 1959 borders for the US when Hawaii became our 50th state. Then Obama wouldn't be an American right? just wishful thinking.... |
| Posted by: Jan 2011-06-13 15:13 |
| #14 "Maybe he's starting to come unglued." Maybe, Bobby? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-06-13 14:29 |
| #13 "Israel couldn't do this without losing thousands of Jews to rocket and mortar attacks" For Bambi et al., that's not a bug, that's a feature. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-06-13 14:24 |
| #12 Israel is different than the USA. Land won with the blood of young men and women during war is actually retained by Israel and becomes part of their country. On the other hand, the USA.....well you get my drift. |
| Posted by: Louisiana Steve 2011-06-13 14:13 |
| #11 Hell no. We have a flippin full bloom muslim idiot in the WH. 1. Israel is surrounded by enemies. Look at the abuses going on in Syria. Look at the Muslim Brotherhood about to assume power in Egypt. Look at Hezbollah in Lebanon. Look at Hamas in the Palestinian territory. Both proxies of Iran who wants to destroy Israel. 2. Under the pre-1967 borders, Israel would be difficult to defend. Haifa would be 21 miles from Palestinian territory, Tel Aviv- 11 miles, Beersheba- 10 miles. Israel would be cut in half. 3. Currently, Israel is the only democracy in the mideast and BO wants to cut it up to satisfy the Arabs? They are not trustworthy in negotiations. Phooey! Israel would end up getting screwed badly. 4. Being the only democracy in the mideast, Palestinians who are citizens of Israel have representation in the Knesset in proportion to their numbers. Can anyone point to a muslim country where Jewish people reside and have similar rights? In fact, Jews and Christians are abused in muslim countries. 5. Current boundaries have been established as the result of Arab countries attacking Israel and being defeated. 6. IOM BO is our muslim in the WH--at least his sympathies appear to be with the muslims. His thinking is muslim. 7. The Israelis should tell him to STFU and quit meddling. 8. We need to pull out of the UN. They are a worthless bunch who soak up a lot of our money. Many of the representatives are people from countries who are enemies of the U.S. and Israel. 9. This BO administration represents a dark point in our history. They are a bunch of radical idealogues who pay no attention to our Constitution and have no interest in whether our country falls apart. In fact, it is as if they are doing everything possible to hasten destruction. It has got to be more than incompetence. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-06-13 14:04 |
| #10 A little better link here. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2011-06-13 13:35 |
| #9 He is a Godless little spoiled brat. |
| Posted by: newc 2011-06-13 12:58 |
| #8 And The One wasn't happy -- White House Insider: ObamaÂ’s Rage Over Netanyahu Meeting: "What the F---c--k was that?" |
| Posted by: Sherry 2011-06-13 12:44 |
| #7 This is a perfect example of President Obama's inability to accept reality. He prefers to live in his own little dreamworld, and when confronted with a clear 'NO', he blinks, mutters, draws himself up to full stature (/sarc) and restates the same position. He is incapable of comprehending that someone would say NO to him. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2011-06-13 12:32 |
| #6 The Whitehouse may get bent. FOAD |
| Posted by: newc 2011-06-13 12:25 |
| #5 Didn't Netanyahu sit the President down in front of the press in our own white house and explain to him why Israel couldn't do this without losing thousands of Jews to rocket and mortar attacks? Did teh 0ne even care? Did he listen? Or is he really trying to kill Jews? Either way, the man is a fucking dumbass and needs to be removed from office on 2012. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-06-13 12:24 |
| #4 Maybe he's starting to come unglued. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-06-13 12:16 |
| #3 Which part of "Up your nose with a rubber hose" was unclear? |
| Posted by: mojo 2011-06-13 12:03 |
| #2 How do you say "Fat Chance" in Hebrew? |
| Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 2011-06-13 11:23 |
| #1 "No" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-06-13 11:10 |