OBAMA TELLS ISRAEL: Go back to 1967 borders

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama Thursday endorsed a key Palestinian demand for the borders of its future state and prodded Israel to accept that it can never have a truly peaceful nation based on “permanent occupation”.
Obama’s urging that a Palestinian state be based on 1967 borders – before the Six-Day War in which Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza – was a significant shift in the US approach. It drew an immediate negative response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is to meet with Obama at the White House Friday.
In a statement released late Thursday in Occupied Jerusalem, Netanyahu called the 1967 lines “indefensible,” saying such a withdrawal would jeopardize Israel’s security and leave major West Bank settlements outside Israeli borders, though Obama left room for adjustments reached through negotiations.
At the same time, it was not immediately clear whether Obama’s statement on the 1967 borders as the basis for negotiations – something the Palestinians have long sought – would be sufficient to persuade the Palestinians to drop their push for UN recognition of their statehood. Obama rejected the Palestinians’ unilateral statehood bid Thursday as he sought to underscore US support for Israel notwithstanding the endorsement of the 1967 borders.
“Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won’t create an independent state,” Obama said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called an “urgent” leadership meeting Thursday to examine Obama’s Mideast policy speech, an aide said.
But his tentative partners in the Hamas movement immediately called on Obama to take “concrete steps” not merely issue “slogans” in support of Palestinian independence and an end to Israeli occupation.
Obama’s comments came in his most comprehensive response to date to the uprisings sweeping the Arab world. Speaking at the State Department, he called for the first time for the leader of Syria to embrace democracy or move aside, though without specifically demanding his ouster.
As he addressed audiences abroad and at home, Obama sought to leave no doubt that the US stands behind the protesters who have swelled from nation to nation across the Middle East and North Africa, while also trying to convince American viewers that US involvement in unstable countries halfway around the world is in their interest, too.
Obama said the US must change its policy or face a deepening rift with the Arab world, pledging to promote reform across a region hit by six months of protest.
In the speech, he also unveiled a multi-billion dollar economic plan to spur and reward democratic change in the region, modeled on the evolution of post-Soviet eastern Europe. The president, meanwhile, called on the governments of Bahrain and Yemen to work with their opposition parties to resolve the unrest which has rocked their countries.
And a day after imposing financial sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and six top aides, Obama said Assad must lead a political transition or “get out of the way” of the movement for democracy in his country.Obama said it was inevitable Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi would have to leave power and only then could a democratic transition in the North African state proceed.
“Time is working against Gaddafi. He does not have control over his country. The opposition has organised a legitimate and credible Interim Council,” Obama said.
“When Gaddafi inevitably leaves or is forced from power, decades of provocation will come to an end and the transition to a democratic Libya can proceed,” he said, defending his decision to take military action against the Libyan leader’s government. “We know that our own future is bound to this region by the forces of economics and security; history and faith,” he said.
He hailed the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and declared that Bin Laden’s vision of destruction was fading even before US forces shot him dead.
On the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Obama cautioned that the recent power-sharing agreement between the Palestinian faction led by Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas movement “raises profound and legitimate” security questions for Israel. “How can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist?” Obama asked. He also announced economic incentives aimed at steering a region roiling in violence toward democratic change. Among the elements of his approach:
n The canceling of roughly $1 billion in debt for Egypt. The intention is that money freed from that debt obligation would be swapped toward investments in priority sectors of the Egyptian economy.
n The guaranteeing of up to $1 billion in borrowing for Egypt through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
n Promises by the US to launch a new trade partnership in the Middle East and North Africa and to prod world financial institutions to help Egypt and Tunisia.
– Agencies

Caption: Making a point US President Barack Obama speaks at the State Department in Washington, Thursday. (AFP) __

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