Even Obama’s ineptitude cannot mask his profound hostility

Melanie Phillips:

In a particularly authoritative analysis, Charles Krauthammer identifies the extent of the threat posed by Obama to Israel’s interests in his ‘1967 lines’ speech and subsequent remarks:

Note how Obama has undermined Israel’s negotiating position. He is demanding that Israel go into peace talks having already forfeited its claim to the territory won in the ’67 war — its only bargaining chip. Remember: That ’67 line runs right through Jerusalem. Thus the starting point of negotiations would be that the Western Wall and even Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter are Palestinian — alien territory for which Israel must now bargain.

The very idea that Judaism’s holiest shrine is alien or that Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter is rightfully or historically or demographically Arab is an absurdity. And the idea that, in order to retain them, Israel has to give up parts of itself is a travesty.

Meanwhile, the equally authoritative Khaled Abu Toameh reports:

The Palestinians are furious with U.S. President Barack Obama. Abbas, for his part, has rejected Obama’s opposition to his plan to ask the U.N. to recognize a Palestinian state in September, and says that he will proceed with his efforts.

… Both Fatah and Hamas have condemned Obama for ‘succumbing’ to pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the pro-Israel ‘Jewish lobby’ in the U.S… Obama, who until recently was seen as a ‘friend’ of the Palestinians, is now being dubbed, in private, by Fatah representatives, a ‘Zionist agent’ and ‘pawn’ in the hands of Israel and the ‘Jewish lobby.’

It surely takes a particular kind of political genius to upset both sides by an entirely unnecessary intervention in their dispute.

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