Obama: Jerusalem must remain undivided, Israeli capital

Barack Obama's position on the future of Jerusalem is crystal clear. Of course, there are some people who want it to seem muddied and muddled, among them those embattled leftists (many Jewish) who want him to appear as anti-Israel as they are. It won't work; he is, as I've said many times, a good Zionist, like Martin Luther King and Ronald Reagan, Al Gore and George W. Bush. Forgive the mixing of types. But that has been the range of American support for Israel for decades.

There is also a somewhat larger group of right-wingers (also many of them Jews) who are deft at the blogosphere and insistent that Obama is no friend of Israel, at all. Of course, these men and women are not antagonistic toward Israel in the slightest. But they seem to be more comfortable with the friendship of John Haggee than with the Zionist solidarity of any Democrat.

What's the new fuss about? On Wednesday, Obama told the AIPAC conference in Washington that "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided." On Thursday, he told CNN that, of course, Jerusalem will be part of whatever negotiations take place in the context of a peace effort. Does the second statement contradict the other, as Obama's critics have mobilized themselves into charging?

Surely, even rabid McCain supporters understand that there will have to be some parley before there's an agreement, even an agreement short of full peace. This is so self-evident that I am stunned that one has to assert the obvious. (I myself doubt that there will be an agreement of any sort any time soon. But that's another matter.)

So let's examine what Obama believes. One that Jerusalem is and will continue to be the capital of the Jewish state. There are no ifs or buts about that. This was not always the official American position. Still, it is now, and Obama has affirmed it will continue to be American policy under his presidency. Frankly, unless Jimmy Carter were suddenly to pick up a second term it is inconceivable that any American president would renege on this.

Obama also asserted that the city will remain undivided. This is his guarantee of American backing for a city map that will not cut off the Mount of Olives from the rest of Jerusalem and that Pisgat Ze'ev and Neve Ya'akov which, east of Arab neighborhoods, were added and annexed to Jerusalem after 1967 and will remain in Jerusalem.

But keep in mind that these intricate matters must be hashed out and ratified at the negotiating table. Unilateral action is always unstable, and these acts will become permanent in the eyes of the Palestinians .

There are Israeli interests that depend on the unification of the city. Many Arabs have been sneaking into Jerusalem to live ihere precisely because they do not want to live under Palestinian sovereignty. Not at all. This race to the city continues the demographic contest in Jerusalem that goes back to the 1840's and which has been continuously and decisively won by the Jews. That's one of the reasons why many Israelis, hard-line and soft -- most Israelis, in fact -- want an independent Palestinian state.

There are many Arab neighborhoods not only in Jerusalem but on the periphery of it. Jews need not be guaranteed undivided access to Sur Bahir and Jabul Mukhabir and perhaps a dozen other Palestinian areas. The question is what rights will their inhabitants have to work in Jerusalem? Or visit Jerusalem? Can anybody pretend that this will be determined without negotiations with the Palestinians?

It's easy to utter "eternal and unified capital of Israel." But Israel does not want that as a slogan or a cliche. Jewish force can keep it that way. But unless it is negotiated there will always be the nagging question as to whether the world acknowledges the fact. In the meantime, all of the embassies in Israel are in Tel Aviv.
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_spine/archive/2008/06/06/on-the-obama-jeru...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Barack
• Obama
• Israel
• Jewish
• Iraq
• war
• John
• Mccain
• Likud
• George
• Bush
• iran
• hamas
• terror
• foreign
• policy
• experience
• kadima

[StackBundles1991]

Some change. Obama has no shame

[danny1st]

Lie to the Jews about keeping Jerusalem undivided------> Take the American Jews' money for your campaign------->Get elected-------->Screw the Jews up.

[insideVoice101]

@antekification they are the one who are killing thousands every year.. what a joke. have some shame

[insideVoice101]

@classicalguss until Arabs follow Islam there will never be peace, look at Mohammed's life did he spare anyone who surrendered ?

[classicalguss]

@anubethc45 But you are saying that it is the capital of Israel means that it's the capital for Jewish faith. Sure Israel allows Arabs to live in it, but the country is a Jewish one. It has the star of david on it's flag, it identifies it's citizens as Jews not as Israelis. Jerusalem should stay the way it is until the Arabs and Israelis get a solution to their problem, preferably a one-state solution that is NOT named Israel and doesn't have it's current flag and character.

[adamcasa]

its so simple : jew invades palestine and are supported by US and british lobbies and govrnements.....and who wanna support these facts will be rejecteed, oppresed, named terrorist etcetc

[ars62287]

The media in this nation has no shame, has anyone ever gotten away with so many lies to the public as this President? Seriously.... anyone?

[antekification]

israel=biggest threat to world peace, a stateterror apartheid regime that warmongering against neighbours and reject peace, law and moral.

[cavolpert]

funny how none of these jackass msnbc sheeple have brought this up.

[ghazaail]

as they take it with gun palestine will get it back with gun im not really hang hopes on USA for giving back my Land we will get it back let them act here and there and lie but we will get it sooner or latter becuz its our land not jew .....

[rivermill100]

I cant stand this son of a bitch. Go back to your homeland.....................K­enya. Canada and the US hate you

[tracytea1]

LIar, Liar, Liar...Impeach Obama NOW Before it is to Late