Jerusalem Post: Obama to endorse Arab-Israeli peace plan (!!!)

[LittleBlue]

He's going to endorse the Saudi peace plan, according to sources close to Obama (Emanuel?)

Pre-67 borders, divided Jerusalem, and recognition of Israel!

Yay!

US President-elect Barack Obama is planning to base his peacemaking efforts in the Middle East on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, The Sunday Times reported on Sunday, quoting sources close to Obama.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404745738&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[bluestateguy]

1. This sounds unsubstantiated

So we should wait.

[democrattotheend]

2. This sounds highly unlikely

I can't believe he would endorse a divided Jerusalem and pre-1967 borders. That would mean Israel giving up control of East Jerusalem, including the holiest site for the Jews, and putting them under Palestinian control. Pre-1967, Jews could not even visit the holy sites. There's no way in hell any mainstream US politician would sign onto something like that...I have seen some proposals to make it an international city controlled by a third party, but I am not aware of any serious proposals to return to a divided Jerusalem. And if he did, I certainly would not say "yay" about it...I might even want my vote back. But again, I find this really hard to believe.

[liberalpragmatist]

11. That's not true at all

EVERY international proposal -- including Israeli proposals from Barak and Olmert have conceded a division of Jerusalem. Why? Not only because Jerusalem has enormous symbolism to the Palestinians and to Islam -- the bigger reason even the Israelis are considering this is because Jersualem will have an Arab majority within a couple decades.

Most proposals are that Israel will keep Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, but the large Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem in northern and southern East Jerusalem (including the neighborhood which surrounds three sides of the old city) would go to Palestine.

The big sticking point over negotiations has been the Old City. The options are (1) international control, which the Israelis are highly unlikely to endorse and (2) division between Israel and Palestine, with Israeli sovereignty over the Jewish and possibly the Armenian quarters and Palestinian sovereignty over the Christian and Muslim quarters with some power-sharing arrangement and guaranteed access to the holy sites for all people. As for the Temple Mount, there have been proposals to declare the Wailing Wall part of Israel and the Golden Mosque Palestinian, but the "ground" underneath it Israeli (remains of the Jewish Temple). There has even been a proposal by an Israeli Foreign Minister (Shlomo Ben-Ami) to put the entire Temple Mount under the "sovereignty of God".

The Israeli peace camp and even many ordinary Israelis these days concede a re-division of Jerusalem. The Arab parts of the city are practically separated as is -- they're completely underfunded, have low access to social services (think low-income, majority-black ghettos in the U.S.), and are practically a different world from the Jewish parts of the city.

[dennis4868]

3. this is complete...

bullshit! nuff said....

[dennis4868]

4. is the sunday times...

the sunday NY TIMES or another newspaper?

[Warren DeMontague]

5. The jp is full of it. It's the FOX News of Israel.

What does Ha'aretz have to say on the matter?

[blondeatlast]

7. Ah; I thought that name was familiar. Thanks. nt

[blondeatlast]

6. When it's more than speculation, I'll discuss it. I don' t consider the source reliable.

The OP's own speculation increases my doubt--why Emanual?

[blondeatlast]

8. I noted the cowardly edit, OP.

You said maybe it came from Rahm Emanuel. Edit THAT. nt

[vanderBeth]

9. Yeah... I'm not going to trust the Jerusalem Post on this one...

[fiorello]

10. Original source - the Times of London. Details at link here

The Jerusalem Post gives the Times of London as their source. The Times has more details. Not in any US paper yet. It may be the proverbial trial baloon. The article also describes ideas on resolving things with Iran. Bottom line: at a minimum, the ideas are coming from adult humans rather than juvenile Bush toads.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5162537.ece

Obama intends to throw his support behind a 2002 Saudi peace initiative endorsed by the Arab League and backed by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party.

The proposal gives Israel an effective veto on the return of Arab refugees expelled in 1948 while requiring it to restore the Golan Heights to Syria and allow the Palestinians to establish a state capital in east Jerusalem.

A bipartisan group of senior foreign policy advisers urged Obama to give the Arab plan top priority immediately after his election victory. They included Lee Hamilton, the former co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Democrat former national security adviser. ... Brent Scowcroft, a Republican former national security adviser, joined in the appeal.

Advisers believe the diplomatic climate favours a deal as Arab League countries are under pressure from radical Islamic movements and a potentially nuclear Iran. Polls show that Palestinians and Israelis are in a mood to compromise.