Israelis react to Obama’s speech
US President softens language on Hamas, calls for halt to Israeli West Bank settlements.
By Ilene R. Prusher | Staff writer 06.04.09
JERUSALEM – When he spoke of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Wednesday, President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo went where no US president has gone in previous speeches.
Not only did he say that the only solution to the problem was to form two states, side-by-side, but he referred twice to a would-be state as “Palestine,” a term American politicians usually avoid, instead preferring terms like “the Palestinians” or “The Palestinian Authority.”
Mr. Obama also said that the US could not accept the “legitimacy” of continued Israeli settlement building, using much stronger language than previous administrations.
Significantly, he referred to Hamas, the Palestinian political and militant group now in charge of a Gaza, in a very different tone than that used by the US and Israel in previous years. He suggested that the group – which is on the US State Department’s “terrorist” list – shift gears and assume its “responsibilities.” But he did not call for the group’s destruction or call it a terrorist group.
“The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security,” Obama said, setting off a ripple of applause. “That is in Israel’s interest, Palestine’s interest, America’s interest, and the world’s interest.”
Obama was also made a clear and bold statement against the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the territory where about 250,000 Israelis now live and where Palestinians expect to build their future state. The Obama administration has been at odds in recent days with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected calls for a settlement freeze.
“At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s,” Obama said. “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.”
Settlers react to the speech
The Israeli settlers’ movement reacted to Obama’s speech by blaming it on the “defeatism” of previous Israeli leaders who “capitulated” in peace talks.
“Today, the State of Israel is paying the price of its leaders’ defeatism,” Yesha Council, the settlers’ lobby, said in a statement. “Hussein Obama gave priority to Arab lies, which have always been told with determination and daring, at the expense of the Jewish truth, which has been said in a weak and unconfident voice.”
The council called on Mr. Netanyahu to emulate former prime ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir and “stand up like a proud Jew and reject Obama’s fabricated history.”
Israeli peaceniks respond
Peace activists, on the contrary, took heart at Obama’s speech.
“As an Israeli, I’m enthusiastic about him paving a clear road towards peace, setting out clearly that what we aim for is a two-sate solution and an end to settlements,” says Uri Avineri, the founder of Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc).
“Also, he included Hamas in the new order, speaking about them respectfully, and without threats, and yet demanding what has to be demanded, but clearly indicating that the US would accept a Palestinian unity government with Hamas in it.”
Obama said in his speech that Hamas “does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have responsibilities.” He called on the group to unify the Palestinian people – a call to reconcile with Fatah – and to end violence, “recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
Mr. Avineri noted that these words were bolder and more explicit than many people expected. “What has to be stressed is that Obama has outlined a vision for a world that is totally different from the world Netanyahu lives in. And while the former US president tried to paper over these differences by empty phrases, Obama’s trying to bring it out in the open.”
Official Palestinian comment
A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Obama’s speech was a good start.
“His call for stopping settlement and for the establishment of a Palestinian state, and his reference to the suffering of Palestinians … is a clear message to Israel that a just peace is built on the foundations of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” said the spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh.
Other reactions around the world
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2. Miguel | 06.04.09
I am so proud to see a president LEAD the way instead of acting as a figure head. In my opinion both Israel & Palestine/Hamas are childish and what is needed is for a strong leader to bring these two to terms. -Miguel, Tulsa,OK
3. Sean. Maine, USA | 06.04.09
We can never bring peace to the middle east. They don’t want it and we cant make them want it. The money and man power is needed here at home. When we don’t have children starving and American citizens living in the street. then we can worry about spending else where. We wonder why we are so broke? Stop spending it abroad on people that don’t want us there to begin with.
4. Steve | 06.04.09
Whoever says that we cannot afford to work on peace in Israel obviously has no idea that peace there is tied to U.S. security and wealth. We cannot afford to do nothing and Obama has and is taking bold steps. You will hear many angry Arabs and Jews in the next few months/years, but in the long run, if the middle in both groups wins out, the fringes will have no choice but to go along despite the necessary compromises, and all will be better off for it.
5. dr. sam hamod | 06.04.09
President Barack Obama is on the right track with his call for fairness, balance and justice in the Middle East and in the world. The Qur’an states,
“To save one innocent person is to save all of mankind; to kill one innocent person is to kill all of mankind.”; the same is true to the Torah and the Bible.
It is time for Jews, Christians and Muslims to stop the calls for killing and revenge, for as Gandhi said, “If we go with an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we’ll all end up blind and toothless.”
Let this be a time for a new and better beginning for all those with faith in God/Allah/Yahweh/Dios (all the same name in different languages) so that we all stand and not only do the talk, but walk the walk for peace in the world.
May God help us all to be better and may he help President Obama to have the courage to follow his words with actions.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sam Hamod,
Former Director of The Islamic Center in Washington, DC
6. Jud Williams | 06.04.09
One of the most shocking aspects of the withdrawal of the Jews from settlements in areas taken from the Palestinians is that once the dwellings are vacated the Jews then bulldoze them. Why? Pure hatred and therein lies the problem. These buildings should be allowed to remain standing so that the Palestinians who have been existing in the hovels of the refugee camps could then occupy them. For these many years the refugees of the several wars have been constantly harassed by the Jewish conquerors and have been deprived of the basics of life by these same Jews of things such as adequate fuel, electricity, water, food and other necessities. As a gesture of kindness toward their fellow men these buildings should be given over to the Palestinians so that we then may see some semblance of recovery for those downtrodden souls. It is high time that the Palestinians be compensated for the many atrocities thrust upon them by the Jews over the years since the inception of Israel.
7. pjagrusa | 06.04.09
It would seem there is fighting in the Middle East, because each side says this is MY land. If there would say, it is OUR land, they would have nothing to fight about.
Why is it their land, and noone elses? Because they have been fighting each about it for over 5000 years. None else is that old.
8. Ali | 06.04.09
Pick and choose phrases from the Coran out of contexte does not make you a virtue. I think this is just a PR speech for people who needs to hear respectfull words from a powerfull man. As for the spirit of the speech, no new ideas. Not for me. The israeli settlements were already condemned by the UN. The news is that the US will not push for democracy. Let me garantee you, that if a just and honnest polls are organized tomorrow in the muslims countries, the islamists will win, 100% positive. Obama and america knows that and will never accept it. That is why, I think america is not a honnest broker
9. Tom New Jersey | 06.04.09
Sean hit it on the head. Let’s start taking care of business here at home and stop trying to dictate policy around the globe.
10. Sophia | 06.04.09
This is so evidently the right President for this time. The stopping of settlement building, long promised, but never acted on, indeed subsidized and encouraged by the Israeli government, is one step. Actually, a rollback of the 250 thousand settlers to the former line, and the giving up of the buildings to the Palestinians, as reparations for all the land and homes confiscated over the years is in order.
11. Abdirazak | 06.05.09
It is really a new beginning. As a muslim who has been following the events in the middle east and the world, it is good to see a US president who sboke realisticlly about the problems, pains and unjust that was happening on the ground with unlimited support of US leaders in both branches of the government for as long as I can remember. let us hope it be a true new beginning for US and Muslims in the world.
12. Sri | 06.05.09
This was an unprecedented speech, esp from an Israeli perspective -
Someone had to say it out loud like it needed to be said in all those years and Obama nailed it. There are limits that neither Israel nor the Palestinians ought to breach (needless taking of human lives, settlements and human rights) and Obama has talked the talk on what American leadership is all about. Now for the policy. Why is it that Democrats always have to come and undo the foreign policy mischief that the Republicans unleash time and again?
Anyway, I would expect Obama to lose all Jewish support in the next elections!
13. Matthew | 06.05.09
If Dr. Hamod’s quote “To save one innocent life is to save all of mankind, to kill one innocent life is to kill all mankind”, is his conviction, I would like to hear his comment on abortion.
14. Diane | 06.05.09
There already are two states side by side. The Palestinian state is called Jordan, and was created when Israel was.
15. David | 06.05.09
#14 Diane is 100% correct. Why must tiny Israel give so much and Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia give nothing. Why all the blame on Israel for the situation in Gaza and no condemnation of the “camps” and isolatioon of Patestinians in Jordan?
16. Camillo | 06.05.09
Diane, thank you for stating that FACT. Here is another fact for all the well-meaning lovers of peace: when Israel pulls out of its settlements the “palestinians” that move in do nothing but vandalize and destroy everything they should be using to better themselves. Then they allow militants to use the newly conceded ground to shell Israel and cry foul at the “disproportionate” retaliation. Find the facts. The truth is what we must base our views on.
17. Jay | 06.05.09
When Russia was communist the United States nurtured the dissident movement and individuals by publicizing their actions and beliefs. I think that it is time that our political leaders begin to find the groups in Israel who believe that peace and the two state solution is the only way forward. They should be recognized, publicized, and honored by our leaders as exemplifying the values and traditions that embody our country
18. J Walker | 06.05.09
To Jud Williams
Yes, I agree that it is shocking to see the houses bulldozed. Even more shocking is what happened when they didn’t. In the Gaza Withdrawal, concerned people banned together and raised money to keep a rack of highly productive Greenhouses and agricultural production intact. Money from sympathetic American Jews as well as Israelis were spent and plans were made with the largely Palestinian workforce to keep production after the withdrawal of the settlers. Can you guess what happened? It didn’t take long before the jubilant locals smashed and destroyed the remnants of the Jews in their midst. Local workers out of a job, infrastructure destroyed and an important economic source of food production eliminated. I believe we would say it something like cutting off your nose to spite your face. I still think that they should leave up the buildings as the decent thing to do, but do not be surprised when they are either destroyed to jubilant shouts of “God is Great” and or occupied by Fatah elites and their cronies.
19. A.D | 06.05.09
#s 14, 15, and 16 capture perfectly the obstacles against peace. As long as we have short-sighted individuals as these, the middle-east will never know peace.
20. Jud Williams | 06.05.09
To: J. Walker
Your comments are well taken and very true but the reaction you describe on the part of the Palestinians is understandable in the context that their home land has been confiscated. Regardless of the conversion of the land to a pristine region by capable people, the fact remains that the land does in fact belong to the Palestinians. We have the same problem here in the United States where regions which were once showcases of property proud people are reduced to virtual rubble by uneducated groups when they eventually take over formerly fine neighborhoods. Even when people of certain social strata are provided with project housing, these same areas are shortly reduced to crime ridden areas whose infrastructure is compromised. I happen to live in a region that was once occupied by the very proud Cherokees. The land was ruthlessly confiscated by the European settlers once gold was discovered in the region which lead to the tragic “Trail of Tears.” In my thoughts, I often wonder if I am the legitimate owner of the piece of land that I “occupy.”
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1. hanna | 06.04.09
I hope that what president Obama said today is truly the american policy,not just what some organizations wants to use him as the great communicator for deception.Just like they used so many presidents before him.And I hope that these words will bavked up by DEEDS just like they say in the U.S.A.The land of the FREE.