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Obama’s Israeli-Palestinian Plans

During the Presidential campaign neither Obama nor his spokespeople gave much information about his intended plans for the middle east.

Now however with only eight weeks to go before Obama is sworn into office it is possible to get more than an inkling of what those plans might be in spite of the fact that he and his minions are still tight lipped.

We can gain a fairly good idea of his plans and intentions by looking at the people that are now likely to be chosen to both give advice and to carry it out.

At the time of writing it appears likely that retired general James Jones will be named national security adviser and it is known that Obama and Snowcroft (who served as national security adviser in the administrations of Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush) have spoken on at least two occasions since the elections.

Snowcroft and the man that succeeded him as national security adviser to Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski recently penned an op-ed piece for the Washington Post which might perhaps give valuable insight into the “Obama Plan For the Middle East”.

In spite of the fact that since being elected that Obama has not stressed the Israel- Palestinian conflict as one of his top priorities the two former NSA chiefs have already called upon Obama to lend “priority attention” to the ‘peace’ process.

Their plan centers on four principles which are:

1) An Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, with slight alterations that would be mutually agreed upon.

2) Compensation for Palestinian refugees in lieu of exercising the right of return to pre-1948 Israel.

3) Jerusalem as a “real home” to two capitals.

4) A demilitarized Palestinian state.

Since it is a given that Israel will have legitimate concerns if it is asked to hand over territory to a Palestinian government that is clearly incapable of combating terrorism, the two former national security advisers have recommended the stationing of an international force, which could be NATO whose remit would be to protect Israel and to train Palestinian forces. Scowcroft and Brzezinski also believe it is highly important for Obama to publicly declare his support for these principles before the Israeli elections which are scheduled for February in order to provide Israeli voters with the opportunity to register their views.

Last June in a speech to the ‘American Israel Public Affairs Committee’ Obama pledged to immediately act towards achieving an Israeli-Arab peace if elected and he stressed a number of points that would safeguard Israel’s security:

1) An American commitment to military aid to the tune of $30 billion over the next decade;

2) A “contiguous and cohesive” Palestinian state;

3) Defensible, secure, and recognized borders and the preservation of Israel’s “Jewish identity”;

4) And Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel although he later somewhat altered his stance on this.

He has since called on Israel to ease the day-to-day lives of the Palestinians, to allow for greater freedom of movement in the territories and to halt settlement construction.

It might also be of interest to note that although Obama opposed Hamas’s participation in the Palestinian elections in 2006 he has not revealed his position on the group’s participation in future elections.

Obama’s Israeli-Palestinian Plans

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