Sunday, May 22, 2011

Full Video: President Obama's AIPAC Policy Speech

Debate continues over the president's speech today in Washington.

Obama more than once said that the United States will not stand by while Israel is delegitimized. And he sounded forceful. But he remains committed to a Palestinian state that would cut through territory Israel needs to maintain its security from hostile neighbors. Contiguity for Palestine means dividing Israel geographically where there's been no basis in negotiations previously. Israel will be required to relinquish a corridor from Gaza to the West Bank that divides the county on the map. See, "Obama’s ‘Contiguous’ Palestinian State Could ‘Split Israel in Half,’ Says Middle East Expert." That will open up Israel's strategic vulnerability and impede transportation corridors necessary for national defense. It's absurd. Besides, I doubt there's any realistic chance for the old-time "two-state solution." The demand for Palestinian right of return is the dominant theme. The "Nakba" the basis for historical grievance, despite the myths behind it. The administration should be pushing the other way, against the Fatah-Hamas alliance committed to Israel's destruction, and against the Muslim anti-Semitism that's darkened the region like a terminal malignancy. This is why the AIPAC speech is a lost opportunity.

1 comments:

Bruce Hall said...

With land swaps....

So here's a land swap: Israel gives a 20-mile strip of land along the border with Egypt so that the Palestinians can enlarge the Gaza Strip to about half way to the Gulf of Aqaba... in exchange for the West Bank.

That leave Israel with defensible borders and the Palestinians with a contiguous annexation. What? It's desert? Well, so was Israel when it began. I'm sure the clever Palestinians can turn it into a very large garden... or armory.