Comment

Thursday Evening Open

247
Lidane5/19/2011 10:06:12 pm PDT

Obama’s Call For Israeli & Palestinian Borders To Be ‘Based On The 1967 Lines’ Mirrors Bush, Clinton Policy

Today in his speech on the Middle East and North Africa, President Obama said that “a lasting peace” between the Israelis and the Palestinians “will involve two states” and that “the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines.”

For some reason, the Beltway media is treating this as some kind of breaking news. Foreign Policy reported that Obama is altering U.S. policy, and the Washington Post claimed that the Obama administration referred to the 1967 border as part of the solution “[f]or the first time.”

Next came the right-wing outrage that Obama hates Israel. Matt Drudge published the talking points soon after the speech ended with the headline, “Obama sides with Palestine.” Mitt Romney then accused Obama of “throwing Israel under the bus.” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said Obama “betrayed” Israel, saying on Twitter, “Obama’s call for 1967 borders will cause chaos, division & more aggression in Middle East & put Israel at further risk.” The far-right Simon Wiesenthal Center, which purports to promote tolerance, basically called Obama a Nazi, saying that “Israel should reject a return to 1967 ‘Auschwitz’ borders.”

But Obama’s pronouncement today isn’t new. Even President Bush in 2005 endorsed a two-state solution with negotiations based on the post-1949 Armistice, pre-1967 borders.