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Originally Posted by mlmpetert
But since Obama’s made these statements doesn’t that give credibility to any war launched by any arab nation backing Palestine fighting for the lost 1967 borders? Its no big deal if Palestine wants to try and take back their lost land but if Pakistan, Iran, a hamas group, or whatever comes out of Egypt, Syria or Labia (democratic or not) if several of those powers decide to join in at some point to help reclaim some land for Palestine does the US just stay neutral and provide zero support (including humanitarian) to either side?
Whenever I tried to read into this subject I realize its wayyyy to complex and not so cut and dry, so Im like I don’t feel like spending a significant amount of time trying to understand it. So this may be a ignorant statement: I feel like Palestine has never been capable of governing themselves. I feel like they have given plenty of opportunities to create a government and become independent and they always blow it. The land they have held before though and want back is extremely valuable for several reasons though; namely religious, economically and military. So I feel like with all the uprisings and change going on in the middle east they are prime to get exploited by the likes of several countries that could give Israel a decent fight, particularly if someone decides to use nuclear wepons if things get that far. I feel like given the Presidents words he basically said if the arab world wants to try and take back its land; its fair game. As long as it looks like its in Palestine’s interest the US and UN aint gonna step in. We will just let it play out, hopefully nothing really bad happens.
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There are definitely a lot of moving pieces here, but in the context of the speech he gave yesterday Obama was simply trying to reframe and restart peace negotiations between the Israel and Palestine. He was in no way distancing himself from Israel or endorsing military aggression by the Palestines or any other Arab nation, for that matter. Israel is the number one recipient of foreign aid from the United States and that's not changing anytime in our lifetimes. Egypt, the other nation involved in the 1967 war, which is Arab, is the number two recipient of U.S. foreign aid. Between the two of them they receive a one third of all foreign aid and yesterday the Obama committed another $2 billion to Egypt. Also consider that both countries are our two biggest allies in the region, so no I don't see this speech being misconstrued by any Arab nation, or any other group, to get too full of themselves.
Also keep in mind that Libya, Egypt, and Syria are significantly weaker politically because of the Arab spring and the push to topple the current regimes. These countries have little interest in running to the defense of the Palestinians, especially now that they have so much turmoil going within their own borders and the leadership remains a big question mark. This is why the president is speaking out now because there is a small window of opportunity to get the ball rolling on peace talks again.
By referencing the 1967 war, if that's what you want to call it, President Obama is saying why don't you two consider a land exchange, that was previously agreed upon, as a starting point for negotiations.