U.S. President Barack Obama will call on Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders

[Still a Democrat]

This I will have to see to believe, as much as I'd like it...

U.S. President Barack Obama will call on Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders and agree to additional concessions that will enable a resumption of the peace process, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Tuesday.

The newspaper claimed to have obtained a draft of Obama's planned speech at the State Department on Thursday in which he will outline his administration's Middle East policy, in light of the anti-government protests that have swept the region over the past year.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Sunday that Obama would raise the need for progress in the peace process. However, he did not reveal whether the president planned to present a diplomatic initiative to revive the process, after negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians broke down last September.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Obama will call on Israel to withdraw to the 1967 cease-fire lines with territorial adjustments that will be agreed on in the negotiations with the Palestinian National Authority. The president will label the West Bank settlements as "illegal" and emphasize that Israel must halt their construction.

...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/wo...879553.htm

[Julie]

If this is going to happen, now would be the time to submit such a plan.

[NJMaverick]

Morally this is the right thing to do. Politically this is a very risky idea.

[There Is No Spoon]

Yeah, this is a clever political planting of a seed by having an Israeli newspaper somehow "obtain" a "draft" of his speech.

Yeah, riiight.

Unless the idea is received with open arms ( ), you can be fairly certain that this plan will not be presented publicly.

[RoyGBiv]

(05-18-2011 01:08 PM)There Is No Spoon Wrote:  Yeah, this is a clever political planting of a seed by having an Israeli newspaper somehow "obtain" a "draft" of his speech.

Yeah, riiight.

The chain of information in this is truly bizarre. An Israeli papers gets a leaked draft, publishes a summary of one piece of it, and then a Chinese paper most people have never heard of reports on it.

And not a peep in the US press (that I've seen), not even from conservative Jewish sources that would normally be all over it.

Yeah, right indeed.

[Born_A_Truman]

(05-18-2011 01:08 PM)There Is No Spoon Wrote:  Yeah, this is a clever political planting of a seed by having an Israeli newspaper somehow "obtain" a "draft" of his speech.

Yeah, riiight.

Unless the idea is received with open arms ( ), you can be fairly certain that this plan will not be presented publicly.

Quote:So while the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear: a viable Palestine, and a secure Israel. The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.

Yes he did. I did read (can't find it now of course) a comment by someone in the press saying the text of the speech wasn't released before he began--but in the middle--speculating last minute changes were done.

[jaxx]

Sounds like a reasonable request to me. I hope he does ask for the withdrawal.

[azmouse]

Health care, women's rights, gay rights, banking regulations, getting Bin Laden, and working on Mid-East peace.... all in a day's work for this President.
Where does he find the time?