What will Obama tell Bibi?
May 18th, 2009 § 4 Comments
All eyes will be on the Oval Office mid-Monday morning when President Barack Obama commences his long-anticipated meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The two world leaders are expected to solidify their allegiance while also addressing the question of Palestinian statehood and how to deal with Iran. Netanyahu’s pro-war rhetoric against Iran was central to his election campaign and he is expected to present his case quid pro quo with the Palestinian issue by offering to reconsider some of his positions if Obama agrees to take a hard-line approach to Iran.
The idea that Netanyahu’s government would provide any significant positive or substantial concessions to the Palestinians is however hard to believe if one considers current events even within Israel, where the ethnocentric debate of encouraging Arab emigration or “transfer” is alive and well and gaining support.
An article in the English edition of Le Monde Diplomatique by Joseph Algazy and Dominique Vidal accordingly examines the prospect of Palestinian statehood in a country where significant elements of the society are overwhelmingly anti-Arab. Algazy and Vidal end their piece with an important quote which is particularly relevant now, only hours before the scheduled meeting:
“Only the international community can impose a solution on Israel: that’s what we should all be working for – here and in your country.”
You can read Algazy and Vidal’s piece here. Also be sure to check out Jonathan Steele’s exceptional piece in The Guardian written in the beginning of May, entitled “What Obama must tell Bibi.”
Also see:
- Tony Karon, “The Six Issues That Divide Bibi from Barack“, Time, 18 May 2009
- Stephen Walt, “What Barack should tell Bibi“, Foreign Policy, 18 May 2009
this morning construction started on a new Jewish settlement in the Jordan Valley.
The question should read “what will Bibi tell Obomber”. The Obomber regime has deliberately failed to enumerate any M.E. positions. He awaits instruction.
Obomba telling Bibi something? LOL.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1086235.html
Netanyahu to tell Obama: Time ‘running out’ on Iran
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