Is Obama planning to call on Israel to retreat to its 1967 borders?
That’s the rumor in the Israeli press, as filtered through the Chinese press today:
U.S. President Barack Obama will call on Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders and agree to additional concessions that will enable a resumption of the peace process, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Tuesday.
The newspaper claimed to have obtained a draft of Obama’s planned speech at the State Department on Thursday in which he will outline his administration’s Middle East policy, in light of the anti-government protests that have swept the region over the past year.
The Israeli newspaper claims that “senior” Obama administration officials shared this plan with top Israelis in recent meetings.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Obama will call on Israel to withdraw to the 1967 cease-fire lines with territorial adjustments that will be agreed on in the negotiations with the Palestinian National Authority. The president will label the West Bank settlements as “illegal” and emphasize that Israel must halt their construction.
Or what?
If this is true, ANYTHING is possible, both domestically and internationally.
To paraphrase from BD @the SK, who IS this guy?
And what is on the videotapes of the Khalafi sendoff that the LA Times has in its vaults ?
If Israel retreats to the 1967 lines, the paleostinians will demand they withdraw to the 1948 lines. Then demand they withdraw altogether. The end game is no Israel or Jews left on the planet.
Then they’ll start demanding that Europe give them back Spain.
Stand tough Israel, America is with you. This guy will be gone in 20 months and then we can get back to the fight.
What you call the “1948 lines” are actually the 1949 Armistice lines. Further, there is NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN the 1949 Armistice lines and the 1967 borders.
Obama said NOTHING NEW in his Middle East policy speech. IN FACT, the policy of every US administration since 1949 has been that Israel’s borders are those borders established by the Armistice of 1949.
For example, here is the text of a 2004 Congressional Resolution authored by Tom Delay (R,TX) passed in support of comments by President Bush in which he stated that Israel’s borders are the 1947 and 1967 borders.
In 2004, U.S. House Approved A Return To Borders That Reflect “Mutually Agreed Changes” To “The Armistice Lines Of 1949.” House Concurrent Resolution 460, sponsored by then-Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX) and approved by the U.S. House in 2004, stated:
Whereas the United States is hopeful that a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be achieved;
Whereas the United States is strongly committed to the security of Israel and its well-being as a Jewish state;
Whereas Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has proposed an initiative intended to enhance the security of Israel and further the cause of peace in the Middle East;
Whereas President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Sharon have subsequently engaged in a dialogue with respect to this initiative;
Whereas President Bush, as part of that dialogue, expressed the support of the United States for Prime Minister Sharon’s initiative in a letter dated April 14, 2004;
Whereas in the April 14, 2004, letter the President stated that in light of new realities on the ground in Israel, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, but realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities. [H. Con. Res. 460, 6/23/04]
Want some more: Okay — here you go:
In 2005, Bush Stated: “Any Final Status Agreement Must Be Reached Between The Two Parties, And Changes To The 1949 Armistice Lines Must Be Mutually Agreed To.” From Bush’s statement during a May 26, 2005, press conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
How about this:
In 2008, Then-Israeli Prime Minister Edud Olmert Stated That Israelis Must “Return To The Core Of The Territory That Is The State of Israel Prior To 1967.” On the anniversary of the death of Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by an Orthodox Jew opposing the Oslo Accords, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated: “We must give up Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem and return to the core of the territory that is the State of Israel prior to 1967, with minor corrections dictated by the reality created since then.”
Perhaps you people who are attacking Obama’s 1967 borders comments would do better to spend some time learning your Middle Eastern history before displaying your ignorance.
Walt C, my thoughts exactly. The precedent would be incomprehensible, unconscionable and alarming.
Redraw Israel to reflect 1967, then 1948, then 1939. Mission accomplished: no more Jewish state.
In Europe, return Spain and then southern France to the caliphate.
In America (which I like to think of as the homefront, but Obama refers to as “all 57 states”), return half of America to Mexico, which was a Spanish colony, which the new Spanish caliphate has reclaimed as its rightful territory …
What would the Arab world do without Israel? No more common enemy to focus on, to draw attention away from problems closer to home–poverty due to shitty government. Without Israel, the Palestinians might notice that the other Arab nations have left them to live in stinking refugee camps for 40 years. They might notice that Israel was the one place Arabs could live a decent life in the mideast.
I am not so sure that the Arabs really want Israel out of there.
I agree – Israel should go back to its 1967 borders. Now, let’s look at a map of Israel’s borders on December 31, 1967….
fu*ck you, punk ass. hope they blow up your hamas/hesbollah hell hole. what’s hussein going to do ? obammy thinks because seals killed bin laden, that israel is fair game. guess rev. wright is back in the white (haha) house.
Uhhh… the 1967 lines ARE the 1948 lines.
It just sounds better.
Israel made no significant territorial gains between 1948 and 1967. Returning to Israel’s borders before the 6-day war (which is meant by “the 1967 lines”) actually means return to 1948.
Leaving Israel just 12 miles wide in its most populous area.
The 1967 lines are the 1949 lines. They were never an international boundary but a cease fire line. Letting terrorists sit on the 1949 lines means instead of shooting rockets at schools Sderot they can shoot rockets at malls and skyscrapers in Tel Aviv and the international airport. Stupid!
The real problem is Obama and the UN are going to rush to set up a new country of “palestine” which never existed, and it still wont be enough to bring peace. The people in it are not ready for peace, they are obsessed with murdering Jews, jihad, “right of return”, and will not stop until they are defeated militarily.
Giving terrorists their own country – which will be allied with Iran, HizbAllah, Syria, and the new muslim brotherhood dominated Egypt is only a good ideas if you want a big war.
Dear Mr President Barak Obama,
To the following question:
“Is Obama planning to call on Israel to retreat to its 1967 borders?”
Hopefully this will be true. If yes, I’m thankful to you and I wish you the courage and the energy to call Israel to withdraw the Israeli Army and the Israeli Settlers behind the 1967-border.
Witth best regards,
Jochi Weil-Goldstein, Zurich, Initiator of the Appeal by concerned Jews to the Israeli Government http://www.humanrights-in-israel.ch
Obama said NOTHING NEW in his Middle East policy speech. IN FACT, the policy of every US administration since 1949 has been that Israel’s borders are those borders established by the Armistice of 1949.
For example, here is the text of a 2004 Congressional Resolution authored by Tom Delay (R,TX) passed in support of comments by President Bush in which he stated that Israel’s borders are the 1947 and 1967 borders.
In 2004, U.S. House Approved A Return To Borders That Reflect “Mutually Agreed Changes” To “The Armistice Lines Of 1949.” House Concurrent Resolution 460, sponsored by then-Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX) and approved by the U.S. House in 2004, stated:
Whereas the United States is hopeful that a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be achieved;
Whereas the United States is strongly committed to the security of Israel and its well-being as a Jewish state;
Whereas Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has proposed an initiative intended to enhance the security of Israel and further the cause of peace in the Middle East;
Whereas President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Sharon have subsequently engaged in a dialogue with respect to this initiative;
Whereas President Bush, as part of that dialogue, expressed the support of the United States for Prime Minister Sharon’s initiative in a letter dated April 14, 2004;
Whereas in the April 14, 2004, letter the President stated that in light of new realities on the ground in Israel, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, but realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities. [H. Con. Res. 460, 6/23/04]
Want some more: Okay — here you go:
In 2005, Bush Stated: “Any Final Status Agreement Must Be Reached Between The Two Parties, And Changes To The 1949 Armistice Lines Must Be Mutually Agreed To.” From Bush’s statement during a May 26, 2005, press conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
How about this:
In 2008, Then-Israeli Prime Minister Edud Olmert Stated That Israelis Must “Return To The Core Of The Territory That Is The State of Israel Prior To 1967.” On the anniversary of the death of Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by an Orthodox Jew opposing the Oslo Accords, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated: “We must give up Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem and return to the core of the territory that is the State of Israel prior to 1967, with minor corrections dictated by the reality created since then.”
Perhaps you people who are attacking Obama’s 1967 borders comments would do better to spend some time learning your Middle Eastern history before displaying your ignorance.