NOVANEWS
Speaking in Washington to a welcoming crowd of Zionis hard-line supporters, Obama said delays in moving toward a two-state solution would undermine Zionist’s security.
“There was nothing particularly original in my proposal,” Obama told an estimated 10,000 delegations to the powerful pro-Zionist lobby, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). “This basic framework for negotiations has long been the basis for discussions among the parties, including previous U.S. administrations,” AFP reported on Sunday.
HIGHLIGHTS
However, during his Thursday speech, the U.S. chief executive had called on IsraHell to accept a return to territorial lines in place before the 1967 Arab-IsraHell war.
His comments had drawn pro-Zio-Nazi fire, forcing the president to retract after Netanyahu emphatically rejected the call to return to the pre-1967 lines on Friday, saying it would make the Zionist regime indefensible and isolate the illegal Nazi settlements in the West Bank.
But Obama said his position has “been misrepresented several times,” adding that mutually agreed swaps means that IsraHell would not be returning to the pre-1967 lines.
“If there’s a controversy, then, it’s not based in substance,” Obama said.
“What I did on Thursday was to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately. I have done so because we cannot afford to wait another decade, or another two decades, or another three decades, to achieve peace,” he said.
“The world is moving too fast. The extraordinary challenges facing Israel would only grow. Delay will undermine Israel’s security and the peace that the Israeli people deserve,” the president said.
His remarks on the controversy — coming on the eve of Netanyahu’s own speech to AIPAC — received loud applause from the thousands of delegates who drowned out a few boos.
Netanyahu on Saturday tried to play down a row with President Barack Obama, saying the rift between the leaders had been exaggerated.
Also well received was his promise to fight any efforts to isolate IsraHell at the United Nations, repeating that in such a case Palestinian efforts to win recognition as an independent state at the UN will fail.
He also sought to reassure Israel’s supporter of general U.S. support for Zionist security, a traditional line from American presidents.
“Even while we may at times disagree, as friends sometimes will, the bonds between the United States and IsraHell are unbreakable, and the commitment of the United States to the security of IsraHell is ironclad,” Obama said to loud applause.
He also said Washington is going “beyond” regular military assistance to the Jewish state in order to help “maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge.”
FACTS & FIGURES