President Obama, King Abdullah, Hint at Israeli & Palestinian ‘Gestures of Good Faith’ to Come
EmailIn a joint press availability in the Oval Office Tuesday morning, President Obama and His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein of Jordan suggested that work is afoot to have the Israeli and Palestinian governments make "gestures of good faith" to one another to kick-start the Middle East peace process.
"My hope would be that over the next several months, that you start seeing gestures of good faith on all sides," President Obama said. "I don’t want to get into the details of what those gestures might be, but I think that the parties in the region probably have a pretty good recognition of what intermediate steps could be taken as confidence-building measures."
Mr. Obama said the U.S. would "be doing everything we can to encourage those confidence-building measures to take place."
King Abdullah said his government was "seeing how we can sequence events over the next couple of months that allows Israelis and Palestinians and Israelis and Arabs to sit around the table and move this process forward."
President Obama noted that, unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is "A strong supporter of a two-state solution. I have articulated that publicly and I will articulate that privately. And I think that there are a lot of Israelis who also believe in a two-state solution. Unfortunately, right now what we’ve seen not just in Israel but within the Palestinian Territories, among the Arab states, worldwide, is a profound cynicism about the possibility of any progress being made whatsoever."
He said that "generations of Palestinian and Israeli children are growing up insecure, in an atmosphere of hate."
"What we want to do is to step back from the abyss," the president said, "to say, as hard as it is, as difficult as it may be, the prospect of peace still exists — but it’s going to require some hard choices, it’s going to require resolution on the part of all the actors involved, and it’s going to require that we create some concrete steps that all parties can take that are evidence of that resolution."
– jpt
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President Obama noted that, unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is “A strong supporter of a two-state solution.
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As Rahm Emmanual was taken to task for saying “we don’t care who the prime minister is” meaning whether terrorist Hamas, or other palestinian-non Hamas member.
Obama has abandoned the agreed upon performance based, roadmap to peace. The one that requires that hamas and palestinians stop the daily Katyusha missile attacks on Israel.
Obama supports simply forcing the two states and let the chips fall where they may.
This Obama character who does a friendly smiling meet and greet with dictators such as Ortega, Chavez, and so on REFUSES TO MEET WITH ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU.
Obama with his long history of anti-semitic associations, rev. wright and farrakhan are just the tip of the iceberg, is throwing Israel under the bus.
He is bowing to the anti-semites but shutting out the democrat leadership of Israel.
He does not support peace, he is doing what he can to destroy Israel under the guise of Peace. He even takes shots at Netanyahu in his brief statement.
Obama loves terrorists for their attacks on Israel. He sat in a church spewing anti-semitism for 20 years. It is what he knows and what he believes.
Posted by: MNM | April 21, 2009, 1:33 pm 1:33 pm
Good luck.
Posted by: MayBee | April 21, 2009, 1:35 pm 1:35 pm
It’s Holocaust Remembrance Day and POTUS is meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan. Outrageous!
Halli Casser-Jayne, author, A Year in My Pajamas with President Obama, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows
Posted by: Halli Casser-Jayne | April 21, 2009, 1:36 pm 1:36 pm
Will we get to see Obama on his knees before his Saudi King this time?
Posted by: drjohn | April 21, 2009, 1:37 pm 1:37 pm
President Obama noted that, unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is “A strong supporter of a two-state solution.
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If such a critical snide, not accurate, statement were made about a terrorist leader, or dictator, Obama, ever the hypocrit, would call it “unhelpful”.
Chavez is “mi amigo”.
Why not say that unlike Hugo Chavez, or Daniel Ortega who took the US to task for transgressions, I and the US believe in human rights.
He only goes after the jews.
Better yet, why not, “unlike Hamas, I don’t believe these daily missile attacks on Israel are helpful”
NO NO, it is all the fault of the jews according to Obama.
Posted by: MNM | April 21, 2009, 1:39 pm 1:39 pm
Better yet, why not, “unlike Hamas, I don’t believe these daily missile attacks on Israel are helpful”
NO NO, it is all the fault of the jews according to Obama.
Posted by: MNM | Apr 21, 2009 1:39:22 PM
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Obama is not interested in what harm comes to Israel. He only wants what Hamas and the Palestinians want. The fate of Israel is not his concern.
He is bowing to those who wish for the Israeli destruction and is taking these steps to move that goal forward.
Posted by: Nobama | April 21, 2009, 1:43 pm 1:43 pm
MNM .. I think you mis-read. The journalist threw in the “unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu” part, not Obama.
You read it as: President Obama noted that, “unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”, he is “A strong supporter of a two-state solution.
But the journalist wrote: President Obama noted that, unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is “A strong supporter of a two-state solution.
Posted by: Rob | April 21, 2009, 1:46 pm 1:46 pm
This Obama character who does a friendly smiling meet and greet with dictators such as Ortega, Chavez, and so on REFUSES TO MEET WITH ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU.
————
That says it all. He studied at the knee of Rev. Wright and bows to the Saudi’s. There is nothing for Netanyahu to add to the conversation that could possibly change Obama’s determination to destroy Israel.
Posted by: Nobama | April 21, 2009, 1:46 pm 1:46 pm
But the journalist wrote: President Obama noted that, unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is “A strong supporter of a two-state solution.
Posted by: Rob | Apr 21, 2009 1:46:37 PM
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I see your point but disagree. The reporter does not make it plain that he is speaking for himself.
President Obama noted that, unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
He is speaking for Obama according to sentence structure, in spite of where the quotes appear.
Posted by: MNM | April 21, 2009, 1:52 pm 1:52 pm
But the journalist wrote: President Obama noted that, unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is “A strong supporter of a two-state solution.
Posted by: Rob | Apr 21, 2009 1:46:37 PM
———-
I see your point but disagree. The reporter does not make it plain that he is speaking for himself.
President Obama noted that, unlike newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
He is speaking for Obama according to sentence structure, in spite of where the quotes appear.
Posted by: MNM | April 21, 2009, 1:52 pm 1:52 pm
Obama is the worse President in this history since former Pres. Carter. He has a ‘lack’ of inexperience and leadership. He will lose the election in 2012.
Posted by: anonymous | April 21, 2009, 2:04 pm 2:04 pm
obama does not like Netanyahu and he showed it when he decided that he will NOT meet with the PM of Israel during the AIPAC conference next month in DC. Makes you wonder who he think our friends are as well as our enemies
Posted by: DJ | April 21, 2009, 2:06 pm 2:06 pm
Obama demonstrates again that he is the brightest leader we have had in fifty years, and one of the most courageous as well.
Posted by: Vince | April 21, 2009, 2:10 pm 2:10 pm
Now, what do ya Pb0 bashers say about his bowing diplomacy?? It worked, didn’t it?!
Wait, did he bow to the wrong King?
It would have been ok if he bowed to the Jordan King since he is after all half american.
Posted by: two cats | April 21, 2009, 2:30 pm 2:30 pm
Amazing how the haters, right-wing whack-jobs and Limbaugh-Lovers can make something negative out of absolutely everything! Don’t you people get tired of swilling that hate-flavored kool-aid? Don’t you get tired of being cynical about absolutely everything the President does? I am surprised someone has not criticized him for meeting with the White Sox today!
Posted by: EdDoc80 | April 21, 2009, 2:37 pm 2:37 pm
or………..maybe………he’s taking the road less travelled by previous administrations. Finally………maybe we we have a leader who will take the middle road and is willing to teach the world that fairness is a powerful tool.
Posted by: realitycheck0057 | April 21, 2009, 6:17 pm 6:17 pm
don’t worry Eddoc80, they will.
Posted by: realitycheck0057 | April 21, 2009, 6:18 pm 6:18 pm
Haters…….need some more Haterade? I wish I could give you more of it!
Posted by: sngeorgia | April 21, 2009, 7:53 pm 7:53 pm
Bush went to the Saudis cap in hand early last year and was rebuffed. Near $5 gas soon exposed his 8 year incompetence as the overheated economy and its pyramid financial schemes cratered. What we need to do is slowly wean ourselves off oil (no we dont have enough oil to drill our way out) then we stop critisicing and monday quarter backing presidents that start the diplomacy game early with the Saudis.
Posted by: J. Richter | April 22, 2009, 11:22 am 11:22 am
It is 60 years too late to resettle millions of Arabs in Israel. It just will not happen. Israel is not going away. There is no self-sufficient Palestinian state possible in Gaza or the West Bank even if Hamas would agree to recognize Israel. Gaza is a welfare state artificially maintained by the UN and by Islamic use of the Palestinians as pawns. Opening Gaza militants into the West Bank would lead to more violence as Hamas would attack the residue of Fatah, take over the rest of the PA and prepare to attack Israel from the East, South and North. The regional step forward would be for Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran and all key Islamic states doing business with the US to simply recognize Israel within the borders that are now on the ground. That would be a regional gesture. Israel does not want to rule Gaza and the West Bank. Why doesn’t the US commit forces to assure the end to terrorist havens in Gaza and the West Bank? Why doesn’t Egypt move military forces into Gaza or open Egyptian borders for Gaza residents who want out? Gaza as a protectorate of Egypt and the West Bank as a protectorate of Jordan would be a regional gesture. Or think more broadly: why not invite India to send soldiers to guard against terror attacks from Gaza and the West Bank into Israel? Why not invite Russia to hold the next Mid-East peace conference? Why not get rid of the “quartet” and start from scratch with Israel as a party to its negotiations? Why not put Israel as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to balance out the Islamic majority that makes the UN useless in this conflict? Why not put India on the Security Council too? Why doesn’t the UN just stop sending aid into Gaza and let the people there make their own decisions about how to support themselves without a permanent welfare state skewing their decisions? It doesn’t matter that the rations are meagre; a welfare state creates dependency and breeds resentment. Cut off aid to both sides and see what happens. Israel would do just fine. Why don’t the Palestinians simply declare independence, declare war on Israel, and fight for the territory they want to take in East Jerusalem and the West Bank? Hamas had no stomach to come out from hiding to fight IDF in their home territory in Gaza. No Arab nation sent in soldiers to fight Israel. The war is over. But dickering around with the fantasy that a Palestinian state somehow different than what exists now will come into being by gestures or negotiations just extends the violence. The war is over. The boundaries are what they are – two separate Palestinian territories in Gaza and the West Bank. They ought to hold separate elections and forget about territorial contiguity. After the wall is complete and terrorist attacks from the West Bank stop for six months Israel can reduce checkpoints in the West Bank – or turn them over to India or the US; more manpower, shorter lines to wait in. You can’t turn the clock back 60 years in the modern age. Rome can never make up for centuries of persecution of Jewish people. Spain can never undo the Spanish persecution and expulsion of the Jews. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and Italy can never bring back the Jews massacred and the homes, properties, businesses and art confiscated. Iraq and Iran cannot give back the oil fields that used to belong to Jewish families. Saudi Arabia cannot give back the communities of Jewish people that used to live in Mecca and Medina. Times change. Times change. Face reality. Israel exists. If Islamist groups and Islamist nations take the step to recognize Israel and stop supporting terrorist attacks against Israel peace will eventually come. If the Palestinians declared themselves to be a state – and continued to launch attacks on Israel – it would simply be war. A war they would badly lose. Neither Lebanon, Syria, Jordan or Egypt dare to fight Israel. Saudia Arabia wouldn’t think of it. So why do they use the Palestinians as pawns for a battle they won’t fight? These regional countries are the ones that could end the war. Simply recognize Israel on the ground as is.
Posted by: Dr. Dan 2000 | April 22, 2009, 10:42 pm 10:42 pm
Why is there always a charge of “anti-Semitism” when someone disagrees with what happens in Israel? A Semite is a descendant of Shem. Judaism is a religion not a race. One can be “anti-Zionist” or at least disagree with some of their policies without being either anti-Semitic or anti-Judaism. Many religious Jews do. To deny that is to argue that one cannot disagree with American policy without being anti-American. I would argue that being able to respectfully speak one’s mind without being labelled a bigot of some sort is precisely the American spirit. It’s insanity born of fanaticism. Iranians, Egyptians, Iraqi’s, Africans Arabs, Palestinians and any other group however we slice and dice them up can be Jews without being Zionists. Jews were simply people who lived in Judea and not all of them were faithful to Judaism. Abraham, a Semite was from Iraq (Babylon/Ur of the Chaldees). It gets even more complicated when Jews like the Apostle Paul and Peter abandoned their former Jewish religion for “circumcision of the heart” versus the flesh considering themselves Jews “inwardly” versus “outwardly, meaning even Christians are “Jews,” puts the term “anti-Semitic” in a totally different light. So to claim one is anti-Semitic when what is really meant is they are anti-Zionist or at least in part or in full disagrees with them woefully betrays ignorance or is designed to intimidate others who would otherwise speak out or act accordingly as they truly feel. What it really says is “I am afraid” and cannot or choose not to engage in intelligent honorable debate without disrespecting my opponent or devaluing him, a sure sign of losing the argument.
Posted by: William | August 21, 2009, 11:30 pm 11:30 pm