Obama pushes for Mideast peace talks to resume
President Obama and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shake hands during a joint news conference at the Muqata Presidential Compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah March 21, 2013. / AP Photo
Updated at 9:57 a.m. ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank President Obama urged Israelis and Palestinians on Thursday to get back to peace talks but offered no new ideas on how they might do so, essentially abandoning his previous support of the Palestinian demand for Israel to halt settlement activity before negotiations resume.
Obama talks peace process, Israeli settlements
"The core issue right now is how do we get sovereignty for the Palestinian people and how do we ensure security for the Israeli people, and that's the essence of this negotiation," Mr. Obama said in response to a question about Israeli settlements from CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett.
"That's not to say settlements are not important," Mr. Obama continued at a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. "It is to say that if we solve those two problems, the settlement problem will be solved."
In remarks likely to disappoint, if not infuriate, the Palestinians, Mr. Obama said the United States continues to oppose the construction of Jewish housing on land claimed by the Palestinians but stressed that issues of disagreement between the two sides should not be used as an "excuse" to do nothing.
"If the expectation is that we can only have direct negotiations when everything is settled ahead of time, then there is no point for negotiations, so I think it is important to work through this process even if there are irritants on both sides," Mr. Obama told reporters.
"My argument is that even though both sides may have areas of strong disagreement, maybe engaging in activities that the other side considers to be a breach of good faith, we have to push through those things to try to get to an agreement," he said. "I think we can keep pushing through some of these problems and make sure that we don't use them as an excuse not to do anything."
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Mr. Obama's comments echoed those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly called for the Palestinians to drop their preconditions for re-launching the stalled peace talks. The U.S. president's remarks are sure to reinforce deep skepticism among Palestinians about whether Mr. Obama is willing or able to use U.S. influence to press Israel into making concessions on a matter Palestinians have identified as a top priority.
Abbas and other Palestinian officials said they would not drop the demand, noting that much of the world considers the settlements to be outright illegal and not merely an impediment to peace talks.
"We require the Israeli government to stop settlements in order to discuss all our issues and their concerns," Abbas told the news conference, a marquee event during Mr. Obama's brief visit to the West Bank on the second day of his Mideast visit. "It's the duty of the Israeli government to stop the settlement activities to enable us to talk about the issues in the negotiations."
During his first four years in office, Mr. Obama had sided with the Palestinians on the issue. He and his surrogates repeatedly demanded that all settlement activity cease. However, when Israel reluctantly declared a 10-month moratorium on construction, the Palestinians balked at returning to the table until shortly before it expired and talks foundered shortly thereafter.
The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in the 1967 war — but are ready for minor adjustments to accommodate some settlements closest to Israel. Since 1967, Israel has built dozens of settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem that are now home to 560,000 Israelis — an increase of 60,000 since Mr. Obama became president four years ago.
Mr. Obama said the U.S. remains opposed to settlements because "we do not consider continued settlement activity to be constructive, to be appropriate, to be something that can advance the cause of peace." Still, he added that internal Israeli politics "are complex and I recognize that is not an issue that's going to be solved immediately. It's not going to be solved overnight."
He did say that Palestinians deserve an independent and sovereign state and an end to occupation by Israel. He said the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state alongside a Jewish state of Israel continues to exist if negotiations would restart.
"I absolutely believe that it is still possible, but I think it is very difficult," Mr. Obama said.
Even before Mr. Obama spoke with Abbas, several dozen Palestinians in downtown Ramallah protested against perceived strong U.S. bias in favor of Israel.
Mr. Obama "should take immediate action to stop settlement activity because the passivity of his position toward settlements is happening while the very last option of a two-state solution is being killed by Israeli settlements," said Mustafa Barghouti, a leading Palestinian activist.
A day earlier, Mr. Obama reaffirmed the unwavering U.S. commitment to Israel's security and noted there had been no fatal attacks on Israelis last year from the West Bank, which is controlled by Abbas.
That calm has not extended to Gaza, which is run by the militant Islamic Hamas movement, and Mr. Obama said it would be helpful if rockets weren't still being launched into Israel. As Mr. Obama began his program Thursday, Israeli police said militants in Gaza had fired two rockets at southern Israel, causing property damage but no injuries.
One of the rockets exploded in the courtyard of a house in the town of Sderot early in the morning, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. The other landed in an open field. Sirens wailed in Sderot shortly after the 7 a.m. rocket attack, forcing residents on their way to work or school to run to bomb shelters.
Mr. Obama condemned the action during his news conference with Abbas. As a presidential candidate in 2008, Mr. Obama visited the border town, which is frequently targeted by rocket attacks from the nearby Gaza Strip. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Over the past decade, Gaza militants have fired thousands of rockets and mortar shells at Israel, prompting Israel, with considerable U.S. assistance, to develop its Iron Dome missile defense system, which it credits with intercepting hundreds of rockets.
Obama tours technology expo in Israel
Immediately after his arrival in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Mr. Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured an Iron Dome battery at Ben Gurion International Airport in a vivid display of U.S. security assistance to Israel.
In Jerusalem earlier Thursday, while examining the Dead Sea Scrolls and during a tour of a high tech exhibit, Mr. Obama and Netanyahu continued the easy banter that the two leaders displayed on Wednesday. As Netanyahu read a facsimile of a scroll, Mr. Obama marveled that the Hebrew language had not changed much over the centuries.
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The Jews looking forward for US attack on Iran,
Palestinians expected to let settlements go,
No peace talks yet...huuuh
This does not look good.
I would grand a lot for the Jews,
they had some bad time around the world,
but train seems to go the wrong direction this time.
Palestine still looking like a swiss cheese,
everybody suffering next door.
Hope Obama is a good game player and keeps it off,
peace, may be we believe in peace, but them .....huuuuh
Now that is a bit more logical and is a solution in its self!
Why does a people fire rockets at the only neighbor they have with peace in their borders? Is it envy? Is it hatred for success? Is it a cultural corrupt with bad history?
60 years of stealing land and apartheid and genocide will do that to people.
A lot can be said for people who mind their own business, unfortunately it seems our lords will never understand this.
U.S is now less popular in the region (Middle East) than at the end of the George W. Bush administration... That's like being less popular on the on the set of a porno flick than the actor you replaced, because he gave the entire cast crabs.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/03/20/obamas-middle-east-policy-in-tatters-column/2004343/
What happened during Dark Ages heh ?
No need to say, you are set to what ever....
Why are there always christians that want to devide the world ?
I ride my Harley to the Wall over Memorial Day Weekend to visit 12 friends of mine of the 58,000 KIA on the Wall
I'm sure you'll boot me for posting this - then so be it - I won't back down!
"Bob Beckel, the liberal co-host of Fox News' "The Five," had some harsh words for the executives at CBS over the network's "idiotic" decision to air what some are calling communist propaganda disrespectful to Vietnam veterans.
CBS' "The Amazing Race" had its contestants travel to Hanoi, Vietnam where they learned communist anthems and were subjected to state propaganda. The contestants also traveled to Vietnam's B-52 memorial, the site of a downed U.S. B-52 bomber.
Roughly 60,000 Americans died fighting the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong in the Vietnam war.
"I am so outraged by this, I can't believe it," Beckel began. "CBS is idiotic, they're stupid. The idea that they would put something like that on the TV don't blame it on young producers. It had to go through somebody at the executive branch at CBS."
He went on: "If CBS can't do any better than that, to go to a memorial where Americans died, then you ought to get off the network. Take that show and shove it!"
Beckel also said CBS executives should apologize for the segment.
Beckel isn't the only one furious about the offensive episode of "The Amazing Race." In addition to Beckel's co-hosts, several other websites have condemned or acknowledged the controversial content included in the CBS show.
Media Research Center:
Unfortunately this singing wasn't the only tactless task. Later in the episode, the teams were required to go to the B-52 Memorial in Hanoi. This memorial is really just a wreckage site, which gloriously displays a shot down American bomber plane. One wonders if it was shot down using the prop from another of the communists' big propaganda moments, when Jane Fonda posed grinning on an NVA anti-aircraft gun.
Nearly 60,000 Americans died fighting the Soviet- and Chinese-backed North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were massacred in Southeast Asia in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal. For CBS to return to the scene and incorporate anti-American propaganda into a game is insensitive and disrespectful to all Americans who honor the lives lost in the Vietnam War.
Yahoo! TV:
However, the viewer vibe turned quickly from sad to mad when the Roadblock forced teams to watch a pro-communism song be performed and then run to another room during a five-minute intermission to search rows of political posters for the Vietnamese phrase revealed at the end of the number. Only Pam got it on take one, and it took two more performances, which one of the country blondes likened to "One Direction," for the rest of the pairs to put up the right poster. Later on, a clue was hidden at a memorial of a downed B-52 bomber from the Vietnam War. Reaction ranged from threats to quit watching to labeling it "a strange episode" and "disrespectful to Americans killed there."
Meanwhile, CBS News didn't acknowledge the potential for outrage:
"[T]he other teams were told to head to Gallery 42, where they're given a Roadblock. One member of each team had to watch a performance of a patriotic anthem, which included dancers holding up a phrase written on umbrellas. They then had five minutes to find that exact phrase in a room filled with Communist propaganda posters. Those who didn't find it in time had to watch the performance before they could search again"
Bob Beckel - one of your fellow Leftist, just threw you under the bus -- called you the "Communist Broadcast Station" for disrespecting Vietnam Vets on your "Amazing Race"
He said you owe us VN Vets an apology -- so I'm waiting....