There has been a bit of conversation on this blog as well as others regarding the impact of President Obama's statement on America's demand that Israel must go to 1967 borders with the caveat that the border "would be negotiated." Well, my opinion and that of many others was that this was a non-starter and that it would send the wrong message to the Palestinians. A message that the Israelis would have to accept the old borders before any negotiations would start.
In the following article from JTA on May 22, 2011, it is apparent that the Palestinians heard the same message as I did. What do you think?
Palestinians: Israel must accept ‘67 border as basis for talks
In the following article from JTA on May 22, 2011, it is apparent that the Palestinians heard the same message as I did. What do you think?
Palestinians: Israel must accept ‘67 border as basis for talks
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Palestinian officials said they would not resume peace negotiations unless Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepts President Obama's 1967 border guidelines.
"If Netanyahu agrees, we shall turn over a new leaf," Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator in peace talks, was quoted as saying Sunday in Ynet. "If he doesn't, then there is no point talking about a peace process. We're saying it loud and clear."
Erekat, a member of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party central committee, repeated similar statements to the KUNA Kuwaiti news agency and others that were rebroadcast on Israel Radio.
“Once Netanyahu says that the negotiations will lead to a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, then everything will be set,” Erekat said, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
On May 19, in a speech at the State Department on his Middle East policy, Obama called for peace negotiations on the basis of the 1967 borders with mutually agreed upon land swaps.
Erekat said that Israel showed it had rejected Obama's premise of negotiation from the 1967 borders when it approved the construction of 1,500 housing units in eastern Jerusalem a day before Netanyahu left for the United States.
On Sunday, in an address to the pro-Israel lobby the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Obama said his call for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations based on the pre-1967 lines did not mean the future state of Palestine would have those exact borders.
“By definition, it means that the parties themselves -- Israelis and Palestinians -- will negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967,” Obama told AIPAC's annual policy conference.
Netanyahu is due to address the AIPAC conference on Monday and the U.S. Congress the following day.
"If Netanyahu agrees, we shall turn over a new leaf," Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator in peace talks, was quoted as saying Sunday in Ynet. "If he doesn't, then there is no point talking about a peace process. We're saying it loud and clear."
Erekat, a member of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party central committee, repeated similar statements to the KUNA Kuwaiti news agency and others that were rebroadcast on Israel Radio.
“Once Netanyahu says that the negotiations will lead to a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, then everything will be set,” Erekat said, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
On May 19, in a speech at the State Department on his Middle East policy, Obama called for peace negotiations on the basis of the 1967 borders with mutually agreed upon land swaps.
Erekat said that Israel showed it had rejected Obama's premise of negotiation from the 1967 borders when it approved the construction of 1,500 housing units in eastern Jerusalem a day before Netanyahu left for the United States.
On Sunday, in an address to the pro-Israel lobby the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Obama said his call for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations based on the pre-1967 lines did not mean the future state of Palestine would have those exact borders.
“By definition, it means that the parties themselves -- Israelis and Palestinians -- will negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967,” Obama told AIPAC's annual policy conference.
Netanyahu is due to address the AIPAC conference on Monday and the U.S. Congress the following day.
West, Beck, some Arabs, and you misstate Obama's proposal. At least the writer of this JTA article states it accurately…
ReplyDeleteOn Sunday, in an address to the pro-Israel lobby the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Obama said his call for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations based on the pre-1967 lines did not mean the future state of Palestine would have those exact borders. “By definition, it means that the parties themselves -- Israelis and Palestinians -- will negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967,” Obama told AIPAC's annual policy conference.
As for Erekat, his sentence quoted in the article does not mention land swaps, but this one does...
Speaking to the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA on Sunday, Erekat said that an Israeli acceptance of Obama's guidelines was essential if stalled negotiations were to resume, saying that as far as the Palestinians were concerned peace talks "actually aim at realizing this [Obamas'] objective, the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with these borders, along with swap of territories."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/erekat-netanyahu-must-accept-obama-peace-guidelines-for-talks-to-resume-1.363324
It is not Obama's fault if West, Beck, Erekat, you, or anybody else distorts his message. All this does is raise a roadblock to negotiating on the basis of what he actually proposed.
I am glad to see that AIPAC and JTA have set the record straight on what Obama said about 1967 borders with land swaps.
--David