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From: MJ Rosenberg <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 2:59 PM
Subject: Obama in Jerusalem: No Big Surprises But Mission Accomplished
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Obama in Jerusalem: No Big Surprises But Mission Accomplished
The second day of President Barack Obama’s visit to the Middle East is
shaping up as very different from the first.
Yesterday was a love-fest with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During
their joint press conference, each of the two leaders tried to outdo the
other with jokes and witticisms demonstrating that they like each other and
that Obama loves everything about Israel. Obama even spoke in
Hebrew<http://twitter.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=7f11ac89ad&e=5a8854c351>at
several points. In short, yesterday was a party and Obama seemed to be
having the time of his life.
The party ended in Ramallah. Maybe it was his view of the separation wall
from his helicopter or maybe the fact that he was away from the Israelis
but the face he presented at President Mahmoud Abbas’ welcoming ceremony was
utterly
different<http://twitter.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=4295a406fc&e=5a8854c351>.
He looked miserable. Was it because he just didn’t want to be there or
because he is ashamed that his administration has decided to parrot the
Israeli line on pretty much everything? No matter the reason, he seemed sad
and his words were halting.
He didn’t offer the Palestinians much of anything though, other than the
stricken look on his face. Yet, there were signs that the times are
changing. He repeatedly referred to a Palestinian state, using the
strongest formulation for that concept, “State of
Palestine<http://twitter.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=9a194d3224&e=5a8854c351>.”
(Of course, he knows that his administration stood with Israel against any
UN recognition of such an entity last year.) Nonetheless, his references to
Palestinian statehood were utterly unambiguous and clear.
And, in words that must have shook Netanyahu, Obama referred to “the moral
force of nonviolence” to resist the occupation. Coming out of left field,
this was probably an indication that Obama read *The New York
Times*magazine cover story on non-violent
resistance in the West
Bank<http://twitter.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=27dfe2274c&e=5a8854c351>by
Ben Ehrenreich. Obama compared the Palestinian struggle to the
civil rights movement in
America<http://twitter.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=f4ab807af9&e=5a8854c351>,
invoking his own daughters as beneficiaries of that struggle. This
presidential encouragement of the one form of protest that Israeli
officials fear most as threatening their hold on the West Bank was
significant. It is easy to imagine Palestinian protesters now marching
against the settlements, waving photos of Obama along with his words
endorsing non-violent resistance’s “moral force.”
On specifics, though, it was all boilerplate. Asked at his press conference
about settlement expansion, Obama made clear that he opposed it but also
that he did not accept the Palestinian view that it should halt during the
course of negotiations. Obama, like Netanyahu, demands unconditional
negotiations which, in reality, means that Palestinians be willing to
negotiate while Israel gobbles up more of the land. Abbas made clear in
response that he wasn’t having it.
Upon returning to Jerusalem, Obama delivered his speech to Israeli
students<http://twitter.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=d0f8aed74a&e=5a8854c351>at
the Jerusalem Convention Center. It was mostly standard stuff (lots of
praise for Israel,
Zionism<http://twitter.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=fdcd65273f&e=5a8854c351>,
empathy over Jewish suffering, etc.) but also included repeated and
emphatic calls for peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state. The
most significant part came when Obama referred to the Palestinians’ right
to justice, specifically referencing settler violence that goes unpunished.
But the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and justice must
also be recognized. Put yourself in their
shoes<http://twitter.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=b9634f1d3e&e=5a8854c351>–
look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a
Palestinian
child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of
a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day.
It is not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished.
It is not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands; to
restrict a student’s ability to move around the West Bank; or to displace
Palestinian families from their home. Neither occupation nor expulsion is
the answer. Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians
have a right to be a free people in their own land.
I don’t think any president previously has used the language of justice in
discussing Palestinian rights, which is, of course, how Palestinians
rightly see it.
It is telling that this part of the speech was met with prolonged applause.
In fact, every reference to Palestinian statehood was received with the
kind of ovation both
AIPAC<http://twitter.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=9aaa2b6ebf&e=5a8854c351>and
the United States Congress reserve for bashing Palestinians, not for
discussing their rights. Although many will dismiss the Jerusalem speech as
milquetoast, no one would say that had Obama delivered it in
Washington<http://twitter.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=f5e2b17274&e=5a8854c351>,
where only pro-Likud pieties are permitted. That might be considered ironic
if we weren’t all accustomed to it by now.
The lobby does not control the discourse in Israel. It does here. But that
is no reason to downplay the significance of Obama’s unequivocal
endorsement of a “State of Palestine” and justice for the Palestinian
people as prerequisites for security for Israel.
Obama accomplished what he had to. He reached over Netanyahu’s head and
spoke directly to the Israeli people, explaining why peace is in their own
best interest and why justice for the Palestinians cannot be denied. And he
was cheered. Loudly.
When negotiations begin, and I am optimistic that they will, the capital he
earned today will be viewed as a smart investment indeed.
*This is crossposted with *The Washington
Spectator<http://twitter.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=855aabd7ccd7a77e987004677&id=9a9fc49d3a&e=5a8854c351>
* where it originally appeared.*
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