Is Bibi anti-Israel?

[oberliner]

Excerpt:

Several months ago, President Barack Obama declared that the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians should take place along the lines of the 1967 borders with “agreed upon land swaps.” Netanyahu responded with fury, calling the 1967 borders “indefensible,” even though by definition “land swaps” meant not returning to the exact 1967 borders. Republicans and Democrats piled on, accusing Obama of abandoning Israel.

The idea of using the 1967 lines with swaps as a framework for negotiations was nothing new, of course, but that didn’t stop opportunists from distorting the president’s position, and Republicans from launching another round of “the Jews are abandoning Obama” stories and accusing the president of being too sympathetic to the Palestinians. Some even claimed that it’s hard to distinguish the administration’s stance from that of the Palestinians. Well now it’s Netanyahu’s position too. Perhaps he’s also a dreaded Palestinian sympathizer?

Of course, the 1967 lines have been the framework for negotiations for years. Obama’s proposal couldn’t have been news to Netanyahu, who had released a statement with Hillary Clinton last November calling for negotiations “based on the 1967 lines with agreed swaps.” So the best part about Netanyahu’s latest overture, from his perspective, is that it’s barely a concession at all.

I look forward to the harsh condemnations of Netanyahu from American members of Congress.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/is-bibi-anti-israel/2011/03/04/gIQAL1ZbpI_blog.html

[Violet_Crumble]

1. It would be interesting to see how Congress reacts to Nutty saying it....

None of the fury that was aimed at Obama will be aimed at him, I suspect. Of course what Obama and Nutty are saying are two different things. Obama declared that negotiations should be based on the 67 border and there's no conditions attached to that. Otoh, Nutty says Israel will negotiate based on the 67 borders IF the Palestinians refrain from seeking statehood.

I could be wrong, but I thought there was a deadline for Israel to agree to negotiate based on th 67 borders, because of the timeframe needed to get a recognition of Palestine as a state on the schedule at the UN. I think this is just hot air from Nutty unfortunately as to enter into negotiations with the Palestinians based on the 67 borders would result in the collapse of his government. Not to mention that he still flat out rejects even pausing settlement construction in the west bank. It's a shame that it's very unlikely he would enter into negotiations based on the 67 borders as seeing the govt collapse could hopefully usher in a govt that's committed to pursuing peace with the Palestinians and bringing an end to he conflict