For the first two years of his presidency, Barack Obama pushed the issue of Israeli "settlements" as his pricipal concern in trying to bring peace to the region. For anyone who understands this issue, the presidents' view was both laughable and highly moronic. The bulk of Israelis living in so-called settlements are residents of Jerusalem or close suburbs of the Israeli capital. The Palestinians call any area inhabited by Jews a settlement if it is on land ruled by the Jordanians prior to 1967. Of course, from 1948 to 1967, Jerusalem was a divided city. The Israeli side was inhabited by Jews, Muslims and Christians. The Jordanian side was off limits to any Jews. That meant that Jews were barred from the holiest sites of their religion. Even the Jewish Quarter of the old city of Jerusalem was closed to Jewish inhabitants by the Jordanians. After the Six Day War in 1967, Israel took control of the entire city and officially reunited it and annexed the portions previously under Jordanian control. Since then, literally hundreds of thousands of Jews have moved into this part of the city. In the Obama view, every time one of those folks builds a home, it is a "settlement" that he wanted stopped.
So after two years of taking a stand against settlements, a ridiculous move if there ever was one, Obama has now moved forward in his positions regarding Israel. In his speech today, Obama demanded that there be a separate Palestinian state based upon the 1967 borders with some land swaps. In short, Obama adopted the Palestinian position. The Israeli position has been that the borders of a Palestinian state have to be the result of negotiations between the parties and have to allow for Israeli security. Until today, the USA had consistently said that it was up to the parties to negotiate a setllement to the border issue.
By taking the side of the Palestinians on such a basic issue, Obama is rewarding them for intransigence. The Palestinians are the ones who would never even agree to the right of Israel to exist. They have prevented any progress towards peace for years. But Obama, rather than recognizing reality, has decided to move forward with a grand gesture that hurts the Israelis but moves us no closer to peace. Obama is now advocating a state for a government led by the terorists in Hamas. that is the only fair way to understand what he said.
In short, Obama has managed once again to undercut any chance for a movement towards peace. He has harmed our allies in Israel. He has strengthened the terrorists who are retaking the Palestinian government.
Obama has got to go!
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