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| President Obama at the UN |
Obama Tells Israelis What They've Been Waiting to Hear -Herb Keinon
It took some 34 months, but on Wednesday at the UN Israel finally heard the speech it wanted to hear from President Obama.
This was a dose of empathy and understanding Obama had not articulated strongly in the past. Obama did not jettison his desire to see a Palestinian state, he just gave articulate expression to the truth that it will only come about through talks. He acknowledged that there were no shortcuts, and even spoke of the need for the Palestinians to compromise as well.
(Jerusalem Post)
An Impassioned Pro-Israel Obama Speech at the UN -Jeffrey Goldberg
Obama and his administration are pissed-off about UN hypocrisy on Israel, and are also angry at the disrespect shown them by Mahmoud Abbas. In other words, it's Abbas' turn to feel Obama's wrath today. Netanyahu is off the hot seat for the moment.
(Atlantic Monthly)
Abbas Is Having the Time of His Life -Chemi Shalev
Statesmen and diplomats from around the globe are falling over themselves in a last-ditch effort to dissuade Mahmoud Abbas from pursuing his bid for UN recognition of Palestinian statehood and he is enjoying every minute.
Members of the Middle East Quartet are frantically exchanging fresh formulas that might find favor with Abbas. The rather uncharismatic Abbas has suddenly been cast as a Caesar who gazes at the arena below him before turning his thumbs down, as the Arabs and Palestinians ecstatically cheer him on.
(Ha'aretz)
Palestinians Refused Statehood in the Past Because It's Not Their Real Goal
-Jeff Jacoby
Were Palestinian statehood Abbas' real goal, he could have delivered it to his people three years ago. In 2008, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state on territory equal (after land swaps) to 100% of the West Bank and Gaza, with free passage between the two plus a capital in the Arab section of Jerusalem. Yet Abbas turned down the Israeli offer. And he has refused ever since even to engage in negotiations.
For the better part of a century, Arab leaders of Palestine have consistently said no when presented with the chance to build a state of their own - in 1937, 1947, 1967 and 2000.
There is no shortage of stateless peoples yearning for a homeland - Kurds or Tamils or Tibetans - whose longstanding quests for a nation-state the world ignores. They must be baffled by the Palestinians' refusal to take yes for an answer.
(Boston Globe)
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2 comments:
Better late than never...what else is there to say?
Even his speech at AIPAC earlier this year[which i was present for] did not equal the power of this oration.
I fear this speech has as much to do with the approaching election as it does with the Palestinian UN chess moves.
But I always give credit where credit is do. A nice speech.
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