Cagle Post: Obama Walking The Tightrope With Israel
President Obama’s address at the State Department last Thursday damaged what had already been a shaky alliance with Israel since he was elected. In the address, President Obama said, “We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.” Stating that the borders of Israel should be time warped back to 1967 is a nonstarter for Israel because it would threaten the security of the Israeli people.
In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the following in the Oval Office to President Obama, “While Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace; it cannot go back to the 1967 lines, because these lines are indefensible.” To fully understand this major foreign policy gaffe by President Obama, you have to look at the events surrounding the Six-Day War.
In the spring of 1967, Arab militaries, primarily from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, and aided by other Middle Eastern countries, were amassing on the borders of Israel for a possible attack on the Jewish state. Israeli forces seized the initiative and launched a surprise attack on three fronts. At the time, the Israeli border was only nine miles wide between Samaria and the Mediterranean Sea. Within six days, the victorious Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) took control of the Gaza strip and the entire Sinai Peninsula in the south from Egypt. In the east the IDF seized control of Jerusalem as well as Samaria and Judea from Jordan. Finally, to the north the IDF captured the Golan Heights from Syria.
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