[gIWnXYkw]

NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/wo...er=rss&emc=rss

President Obama, seeking to capture a moment of epochal change in the Arab world, began a new effort on Thursday to break the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, setting out a new starting point for negotiations on the region’s most intractable problem.

A day before the arrival in Washington of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Mr. Obama declared that the prevailing borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — adjusted to some degree to account for Israeli settlements in the West Bank — should be the basis of a deal. While the 1967 borders have long been viewed as the foundation for a peace agreement, Mr. Obama’s formula of land swaps to compensate for disputed territory created a new benchmark for a diplomatic solution.

Mr. Obama’s statement represented a subtle, but significant shift, in American policy. And it thrust him back into the region’s most nettlesome dispute at a time when conditions would seem to make reaching a deal especially difficult.

The Israeli government immediately protested, saying that for Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders would leave it “indefensible.”

...

The president offered a blunt critique of Arab governments and, without promising any changes in policy to confront repressive ones more aggressively, sought to assure protesters that they were squarely aligned with democratic American values in a region where the strategic interests of the United States have routinely trumped its values.

[uphokyhuP]

I agree with Obama, (Shock I know) but it's time that Isreal acts like an adult and not a bully and the Palestinian's need to distance themselves from Hamas but the likelihood of either of these happening is remote but lets get serious here, both sides needs to compromise and I agree with Talking tough with Israel as a starter. I would love to be a fly on the wall when The President meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu.