Obama to tell Israel: Form new peace policy by July

[Purveyor]

Source: Haaretz

United States President Barack Obama intends to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu four to six weeks to provide an "updated position" regarding construction in West Bank settlements and the two-state principle.

Obama made a surprise appearance on Tuesday at a meeting Defense Minister Ehud Barak was holding in Washington, shortly before the U.S. leader was set to leave on a five-day trip to the Middle East.

Obama spoke for about 15 minutes with Barak, who was meeting with National Security Adviser General Jim Jones at the time. While Obama's official schedule did not include a meeting with Barak, he has in the past dropped into other officials' meetings with international figures.

According to an official Israeli source, Obama wants to complete the formulation of a preliminary six-month plan for progress toward a Middle East peace agreement and to present it in July.

The U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, will arrive in Israel next Monday night. He will meet with Netanyahu the day after in a bid to obtain clarifications regarding the U.S. demand to stop construction in the settlements and on the principle of two states for two peoples.


Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090067.html

[DRoseDARs]

1. Or else what? We'll attach a "sternly-worded" stickynote 2 the billions in aid we already give them?

Obama is going to have to do better than lecturing Israel's leadership on the finer points of Not Being Assholes.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Obama will sick Bo on Bibi

[DRoseDARs]

4. Bibi will bite Bo's head off and use the skull to scrap poo from his bum.

He eats babies too, newborns if available. :)

[Chulanowa]

3. Or... What?

I mean hey, let's be honest, the only reason we're in tight with Israel (besides that garbage from Book of Revelation) is because if we didn't pay them off, they were going to happily walk into the Soviet camp. Just like any other nation, they're not going to take "or else" as a good reason to abandon doing something they think is in their national interest.

So. If Bibi Nutty Yahoo gives us the finger on this... then what?

[aquart]

5. Go for it.

So tell me, Barry. Who gets Jerusalem?

[HonorMyself]

6. Jerusalem

As to the holy city Jerusalem, the muslims already have Mecca and Medina. Under no circumstances should they be given as much as a square inch of Jerusalem, if for no other reason that the fact that they would be certain to destroy the holy sites of Christianity and Judaism.

[safeinOhio]

7. Deal

If they trade ALL other West Bank Settlements for Jerusalem. As William Shatner would say "now that is negotiating".

[The Stranger]

8. Um, not sure if you've been keeping up with current events for the past 800 years or so . . .

. . . but they do indeed have "as much as a square inch" of the "holy city of Jerusalem."

And they haven't destroyed the "holy sites" of Christianity and Judaism because they essentially believe in the same holy sites, and that inanimate dirt and bricks can somehow be "holy."

[Chulanowa]

9. Welcome to DU

Will you be staying long?

[cosmicone]

10. Most of the holy sites are already in the West Bank

like Bethlehem and Nazareth ... they haven't been destroyed by the muslims. I sure hope you're not visiting from freeperland.