Right wing MKs: Obama is the new Arafat
By GIL HOFFMAN AND REBECCA ANNA STOIL
05/19/2011 20:53
Danon, Ben-Ari outraged by US president's call for creation of Palestinian state on '67 lines; Livni says plan in Israel's interests.
Knesset members on the Right expressed outrage on Thursday night at US President Barack Obama's call for the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps in an exchange of territory for security.
They called upon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to reject Obama's plan when he meets with him on Friday in Washington.
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"Barack Hussein Obama adopted the staged plan for Israel's destruction of Yasser Arafat, and he is trying to force it on our prime minister," said Likud MK Danny Danon. "All that was new in the speech was that he called for Israel to return to 1967 borders without solving the crisis. Netanyahu has only one option: To tell Obama forget about it."
National Union MK Michael Ben-Ari also slammed Obama's speech, calling it "a landmine with pretty wrapping."
Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, who as a minister close to Netanyahu must be more diplomatic, complained on Channel 2 that according to Obama's approach, the Palestinians would receive their demands on borders before negotiations begin.
"Once they have everything from the start, they have no reason to make any concessions,"Erdan said.
But opposition leader Tzipi Livni said Obama's plan was clearly in Israel's interests, while the diplomatic stalemate that she believes was brought on by Netanyahu is not. (ha ha ha!)
"On his visit, Netanyahu must display the leadership necessary now to create the conditions necessary to restart negotiations with those who are ready to end the conflict," Livni said. "Only a real Israeli initiative with content that can receive American and international support can be an answer to the current dangers and opportunities."
Her Kadima colleague, MK Yoel Hasson, warned that if Netanyahu did not take immediate action, he would bring Israel into deeper international isolation and borders forced on Israel unilaterally.
Their Kadima counterpart MK Otniel Schneller turned the focus back on his own party, however, calling on the opposition’s leadership to take a strong stand behind the prime minister on issues of foreign policy in light of Obama’s speech.
“Obama’s speech has placed before Israeli society and its representatives the challenge of unity and national agreement. The political disagreements and the motivation of the opposition parties should not overpower their responsibility for the future of the state,” Schneller asserted.
“On the level of diplomatic policy, even Kadima believes in the same principles presented by the prime minister, which constitute the basis for a diplomatic program that the previous government under [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni tried to advance,” he added. “It would be appropriate if during the prime minister’s meeting with President Obama, everyone knew that the prime minister has no opposition when it comes to realizing his diplomatic initiative. We should expect mature leadership from the heads of all of the Zionist parties on the existentialquestions facing Israel and its strategic interests."
MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) criticized the speech, saying Obama offered "nothing new" in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Speaking to Channel 2 news, Tibi said that the speech was intended more for Arab audiences who have been participating in pro-democracy protests in the last number of months and claimed that "Obama is riding the tiger of Arab democracy."
Referring to the US president's speech in Cairo two years ago, Tibi concluded by nicknaming this time's address: "Cairo Speech II."
Jpost.com Staff contributed to this report
