BIGGER THAN BIN LADEN: OBAMA CALLS
FOR ISRAEL WITHDRAWAL TO 1967 BORDERS

From the Washington Post:

The president pressed Israel, in unusually frank terms, to reach a final peace agreement with the Palestinians, citing the boundaries in place on the eve of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War as the starting point for negotiation about borders.

The formulation goes beyond principles outlined by President George W. Bush, who stated during his first term that “it is unrealistic to expect” Israel to pull back to the 1967 boundaries, which were based on cease-fire lines established in 1949. Obama said the negotiations about final borders, which he indicated may include land swaps to accommodate Israel’s large settlement blocs, should result in “a viable Palestine, a secure Israel.”

The president said a “full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces” from the West Bank should be carried out in coordination with Palestinian security forces. He described a future Palestinian state as “nonmilitarized,” a key Israeli demand.

More here.

Some brief history you probably don't know:

When Israel emerged triumphant from 1967's Six Day War they ended up occupying land that had previously been controlled by the Palestinians, Arabs who had lived there for centuries before the Zionist movement brought hundreds of thousands of Jews to the region starting in the nineteenth century. The problem was that Israel's leaders didn't really intend to end up with all this new territory. They had no plans for dealing with it. It was nice to take more of what had historically been Jewish land in Biblical times, but there were already lots of people living there who were not friendly to the recently formed Jewish state. Israel had no idea what to do.

They couldn't just expel the Palestinians. The world would freak out on it, and besides, Arab nations in the vicinity already had tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees from the previous conflict of the late 40s, and didn't really want any more. In short, there was no place for the Palestinians of the Occupied Territories to go, and it would be diplomatically unwise to force them out, anyway. So Israel settled on long term occupation and control of these newly conquered Arabs. The idea, however imperfect, was to make life for the Palestinians so insufferable that they would leave voluntarily, in spite of the fact that there wasn't really any place for them to go. As Israeli General and statesman Moshe Dayan once said, “You shall continue to live like dogs, and whoever wishes may leave.”

But like I said, there was no place for them to go, so Israel just continued to treat the Palestinians like shit for decades, with no end in sight. That is essentially the Jewish state's official policy to this day, with a few variations here and there, such as Jewish settlements, or sending in the tanks from time to time. Of course, the whole thing is a total failure, and America's blind, deaf, and dumb support for Israel, no matter what it does, has gotten us into diplomatic hot water again and again--indeed, 9/11 and the whole "War on Terror" is simply another chapter in the ongoing epic tale.

That President Obama would even casually utter a desire to see Israel withdraw to the 1967 borders, which is pretty much what the entire civilized world has wanted since the late 60s, is a profound break with the last thirty years or so of US policy in the region. I mean, for decades we've just supported everything Israel has done regarding the Palestinians. But not now. Indeed, Israel's political establishment is freaking out about it even as I write this. And the political forces here in the US that have driven our schizophrenic policy toward Israel/Palestine, from both parties, are freaking out, too.

In some ways, this is as groundbreaking as an announcement that we were putting Bush and Cheney on trial for war crimes would be. I mean, mainstream US political discourse insists that Israel's existence is on the line here, which is, of course, entirely untrue because Israel is easily the dominant power in the region, a minor superpower, even. But that's what the US establishment believes. And Obama just told them all to go to hell.

I'm still pissed at the President for all kinds of shit, but this is good, really good. Now let's see if he can put his money where his mouth is.

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