I’m as mystified as Jeffrey Goldberg by Bibi Netanyahu’s hostile reaction to the portion of President Obama’s speech Thursday that dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Here are some of the things Obama said:
For the Palestinians, efforts to delegitimize Israel will end in failure. Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won’t create an independent state. Palestinian leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if Hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection. And Palestinians will never realize their independence by denying the right of Israel to exist.
…..
Recognizing that negotiations need to begin with the issues of territory and security does not mean that it will be easy to come back to the table. In particular, the recent announcement of an agreement between Fatah and Hamas raises profound and legitimate questions for Israel: How can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist? And in the weeks and months to come, Palestinian leaders will have to provide a credible answer to that question.
…..
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. We believe 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.
On the issues of UN recognition of a Palestinian state and the Fatah-Hamas agreement, Obama is clearly taking the side of Israel. On the question of the 1967 lines, as far as I can tell, he did not say anything shockingly new. This, after all, is what then-prime minister (and now defense minister) Ehud Barak agreed to at Camp David in 2000, only to have the deal rejected by Yasser Arafat.
I can understand the faux outrage of a Mitt Romney, who is looking for short-term political advantage. But what exactly does Netanyahu hope to achieve with his criticism of Obama’s speech?
Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni is asking the same thing, and once again I find myself wishing she, rather than Bibi, was sitting in the prime minister’s chair.
As my Hebrew teacher in Israel used to say about Netanyahu: “Ayzo Bibi.” [“What a Bibi.”]
I’m somewhat more pleased that Bashar al-Assad didn’t like Obama’s speech either.
Update: Jeffrey Goldberg quotes Netanyahu’s predecessor Ehud Olmert:
“On the 16th of September, 2008, I presented him [Abbas] with a comprehensive plan. It was based on the following principles.
“One, there would be a territorial solution to the conflict on the basis of the 1967 borders with minor modifications on both sides. Israel will claim part of the West Bank where there have been demographic changes over the last 40 years.”
