President Obama & Israel

(Community Matters) Excellent NYT piece this am

I can’t overemphasize the good friend analogy in Pres Obama’s approach. Think about it. With our dearest friends and family members, sometimes we’re compelled to say what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. It’s not always easy and of course it risks fractures. Hopefully, based on unambiguous love & support, our friends or family members will trust we are speaking/acting with their best interests in mind.

With acquaintances and people you don’t even really know, of course you often just nod, sometimes even pretending to agree even when you don’t – inappropriate or unnecessary to offer an opinion or correct someone. Pres Obama is treating Israel as a very good friend, a best friend – as the country is to the USA.

First, inclusion of language about the 1967 borders is not new  – it’s just new since the last, most failed among them peace talks. Second, Pres Obama didn’t suggest the 1967 borders, he suggested these borders adjusted by land swaps. The latter is huge, huge, huge – an opportunity for both sides to accomplish objectives of security and society. I’ve traveled in the West Bank twice (the last time well within Palestinian ruled territory), there’s plenty of parcels both sides would like to swap.

Last, the State of Israel in its current form is unsustainable – its occupation of the West Bank & the millions of Palestinians (were it not to ensure its security it certainly wouldn’t be occupying these lands – it’s costly and dangerous, financially, politically and to its faith) and Arab population growth within Israel’s proper borders threaten its legitimacy as a Jewish state. Right or wrong, it risks losing the PR war around the world and even among a majority within the US electorate. It must negotiate a resolution to the West Bank to ensure its continued international legitimacy – and the Palestinians must show they unambiguously support a Jewish state as well as its right to defend its people and borders.