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Look at the world through the eyes of Palestinians, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday in a speech to Israelis that followed his visit to the West Bank to raise the American profile in the Middle East peace process.

The address in Jerusalem laid out Obama's vision of a Jewish state and Palestinian state existing side-by-side in peace, and he called on young Israelis to pressure their leaders to work for such a future.

"Political leaders will not take risks if the people do not demand that they do," Obama said to applause, adding a familiar theme from his U.S. campaign speeches in declaring "you must create the change that you want to see." Much more at http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/21/politics/obama-mideast-visit/index.html?
hpt=hp_t2]
I saw a bit on the news where the Palestinians' opinion of Obama has gone down, the Israeli opinion of him has gone up (but still ain't that great), and it saddened me. He's spoken TRUTHS to the Israelis, something the vast majority of our Presidents have never dared do. Hasn't bought him any friends, and I've watched him vascilate back and forth in his support of Israel and felt sorry for him.

Israel will never accept anything less than 100% American support for anything and everything they do. Unless we stay blind to their atrocities, keep making them the victims and keep sending them billions, they'll be pissed at us. It pisses me off no end that America is so blind to what Israel has been doing for so long, and I know it's pissing into the wind to hope for it to change, but Obama made a dent, just a leeetle dent, and I hate to see that go backwards.

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"I believe that the Israeli people do want peace, and you have every right to be skeptical that it can be achieved," he said, arguing that an end to the seemingly endless conflict was necessary and "the only path to true security" for Israel.

"Given the demographics west of the Jordan River, the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable Palestine," Obama said. "Given the frustration in the international community, Israel must reverse an undertow of isolation. And given the march of technology, the only way to truly protect the Israeli people is through the absence of war -- because no wall is high enough, and no Iron Dome is strong enough, to stop every enemy from inflicting harm. "

At the same time, he urged Israelis to empathize with the plight of Palestinians.

"Put yourself in their shoes -- look at the world through their eyes," he said. "It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day. It is not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished. It is not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands; to restrict a student's ability to move around the West Bank; or to displace Palestinian families from their home."

He added that "Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer," saying "just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land."

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Sigh...at least it's nice to hear someone in power speak the TRUTH, but I can just imagine how it was heard.

From one pundit:

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I was sitting near the head of the settlers' council, who seemed ready to explode with anger....

I've run into people who were surprised President Obama took it too strong to Bibi (one conservative-leaning Israeli I just ran into suggested that Obama was interfering in Israeli politics as payback for Netanyahu's alleged meddling in the American election).

The President spoke most feelingly, I think, when he asked Israelis to imagine the lives of Palestinian children, and asked Israelis to put themselves in the shoes of Palestinians. This seemed reasonable to me, but it probably caused Netanyahu, watching on television, to say, "Well, yes, but first the Palestinians have to understand what it's like to be an Israeli." I've very seldom run into Palestinians and Israelis who can imagine what life is like on the other side without quickly resorting to demands that the other side do so first. Which is part of the problem. Excerpts from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/03/quick-reactio
ns-to-the-obama-speech-in-jerusalem/274243/

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Ay-yup. That last part is about what I'd expect. What was UNexpected was this:

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The President was a bit more blunt than I thought, but his bluntness was rewarded by loud cheers from his youngish audience when he talked about the need to create a Palestinian state. I'm imagining that the Israeli reaction to Obama's call will come as a pleasant surprise to at least some Palestinians.

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Huh. For the most part, his strong and repetitive assurances about U.S. support seems to have pleased the Israelis, pissed off the Palestinians, and SO far at least, there's not a lot of anger directed at him from the Israelis...but then it's only been a day; either what he said went right over their heads and they're just happy to have our support reaffirmed, or they discount it as politispeak, or...I dunno. But I wish they'd been listening, dammit!

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As President Obama arrived in Ramallah for a short visit today, he faced widespread disillusionment that America has the ability or willingness to be a fair arbiter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict....

“I think this visit is insulting to the Palestinian people, to prisoners, to the martyrs killed for the revolution,” said Majdi, a young man on the sidelines of a protest in Ramallah two days ahead of Mr. Obama’s arrival. “I expect our president Abbas to tell him that the Palestinian people need to see a change in American policies because all we’ve seen America do is support the Israeli regime.”

But any such requests on the part of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas during his 90-minute meeting with Obama were overshadowed by a remarkable American about-face on one of the issues that rankles Palestinians the most: continued Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank. It's something that is steadily eating away at the possibility of establishing a viable, contiguous state. Today there are twice as many Israelis living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem than when the 1993 Oslo Accords, which set in motion a future Palestinian state, were signed.

Four years ago, Obama’s team came out swinging, demanding a complete Israeli freeze to settlement building as a precondition to renewed negotiations. Israel agreed to a 10-month settlement freeze, but negotiations with the Palestinians never got off the ground. Today Obama reiterated that he and his predecessors did not consider settlement activity “to be constructive, to be appropriate, to be something that can advance the cause of peace,” but he implied that demanding another settlement freeze could simply delay negotiations on the real issues without building any trust.

“Let’s not put the cart before the horse,” he said. More at http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0321/As-Obama-does-abo
ut-face-on-settlements-Palestinians-question-US-as-honest-broker?nav=87-frontpage-entryLeadStory

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Most of the Arabs living in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed, were offered Israeli citizenship, but most have refused, not wanting to recognize Israeli sovereignty. They became permanent residents. They have the right to apply for citizenship, are entitled to municipal services, and have municipal voting rights.

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