Obama's U.N. Speech Is Disappointing

The United Nations has started a new session, and without a doubt the most important (and most politically sensitive) item on this session's agenda is a Palestinian state. Palestinian leaders have asked the United Nations to recognize the Palestinian Territories as a state and give them a seat in the United Nations General Assembly. They are hoping that such a move will force Israel back to the negotiating table to finally agree to a two-state solution.

The Israeli government is opposed to the U.N. granting statehood and membership to the Palestinian Territories. Such a move by the U.N. would further marginalize the position Israel has taken in refusing to negotiate, and would put more pressure on Israel to stop stealing Palestinian lands by building illegal settlements -- settlements they have no intention of giving up in any future peace agreement.

The Obama administration has tried to keep the Palestinians from bring this proposal before the United Nations (even though they have been unsuccessful in convincing Israel to negotiate a peace settlement). They have threatened to cut off foreign aid to the Palestinian Territories and even said they might veto the plan when it comes before the Security Council.  But, so far, Obama's threats have not persuaded the Palestinians to abandon their U,N, proposal.

Yesterday President Obama spoke to the United Nations. The world was waiting to hear what the United States is going to do about the Palestinian proposal, but the president side-stepped the issue. Here is what he did say about this issue:

Now, I know, particularly this week, that for many in this hall, there's one issue that stands as a test for these principles and a test for American foreign policy, and that is the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

One year ago, I stood at this podium and I called for an independent Palestine. I believed then, and I believe now, that the Palestinian people deserve a state of their own. But what I also said is that a genuine peace can only be realized between the Israelis and the Palestinians themselves. One year later, despite extensive efforts by America and others, the parties have not bridged their differences. Faced with this stalemate, I put forward a new basis for negotiations in May of this year. That basis is clear. It’s well known to all of us here. Israelis must know that any agreement provides assurances for their security. Palestinians deserve to know the territorial basis of their state.
 
Now, I know that many are frustrated by the lack of progress. I assure you, so am I. But the question isn’t the goal that we seek -- the question is how do we reach that goal. And I am convinced that there is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace is hard work. Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations -- if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians who must live side by side. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians -- not us –- who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and on security, on refugees and Jerusalem.
 
Ultimately, peace depends upon compromise among people who must live together long after our speeches are over, long after our votes have been tallied. That’s the lesson of Northern Ireland, where ancient antagonists bridged their differences. That’s the lesson of Sudan, where a negotiated settlement led to an independent state. And that is and will be the path to a Palestinian state -- negotiations between the parties.
 
We seek a future where Palestinians live in a sovereign state of their own, with no limit to what they can achieve. There’s no question that the Palestinians have seen that vision delayed for too long. It is precisely because we believe so strongly in the aspirations of the Palestinian people that America has invested so much time and so much effort in the building of a Palestinian state, and the negotiations that can deliver a Palestinian state.
 
But understand this as well: America’s commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable. Our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring. And so we believe that any lasting peace must acknowledge the very real security concerns that Israel faces every single day.

Let us be honest with ourselves: Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it. Israel’s citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses. Israel’s children come of age knowing that throughout the region, other children are taught to hate them. Israel, a small country of less than eight million people, look out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map. The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile and persecution, and fresh memories of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they are. Those are facts. They cannot be denied.

The Jewish people have forged a successful state in their historic homeland. Israel deserves recognition. It deserves normal relations with its neighbors. And friends of the Palestinians do them no favors by ignoring this truth, just as friends of Israel must recognize the need to pursue a two-state solution with a secure Israel next to an independent Palestine.
 
That is the truth -- each side has legitimate aspirations -- and that’s part of what makes peace so hard. And the deadlock will only be broken when each side learns to stand in the other’s shoes; each side can see the world through the other’s eyes. That’s what we should be encouraging. That’s what we should be promoting.

This body -- founded, as it was, out of the ashes of war and genocide, dedicated, as it is, to the dignity of every single person -- must recognize the reality that is lived by both the Palestinians and the Israelis. The measure of our actions must always be whether they advance the right of Israeli and Palestinian children to live lives of peace and security and dignity and opportunity. And we will only succeed in that effort if we can encourage the parties to sit down, to listen to each other, and to understand each other’s hopes and each other’s fears. That is the project to which America is committed. There are no shortcuts. And that is what the United Nations should be focused on in the weeks and months to come.

While the president did not say what the United States will or will not do to the Palestinian proposal in the United Nations, he did reveal once again what drives U.S. policy in the region -- holocaust guilt. Don't get me wrong. I do not deny the holocaust. It happened, and it was one of the most horrible cases of genocidal activity in world history -- and it should not be forgotten. I further believe that both the United States and other Western nations could have done more to stop it earlier.

But that was more than 60 years ago. Must we let the guilt of our fathers and grandfathers continue to drive our foreign policy in that region of the world? Must we continue to pay for the sins of a past generation by turning over our Mideast policy decisions to the Israeli government?

Israel has a right to exist, and its citizens have a right to live in peace and safety. We should do everything in our power to see that is a reality. But this does not justify current Israeli actions, whether it is building illegal settlements on Palestinian land, refusing to negotiate a two-state peaceful solution, or the abhorrent blockades of the West Bank and Gaza (which is nothing more than an effort to starve millions of people into submission, and a majority of those people are women and children -- innocent victims).

There is little doubt that even though the president did not come out and say so, the United States will veto the Palestinian proposal in the Security Council. It shouldn't do it, but it will. If the United States cannot support the proposal, what they should do is step aside and let the world's nations vote on it. But they will veto it because that is what the Israeli government wants.

The really crazy part of this mess is that a majority of the people that live in that region support the Palestinian proposal -- both Palestinians and Israelis. The Jerusalem Post has reported that a joint survey (done by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah) has found this to be true.

Although 77% of Palestinians and 79% of Israelis believe that the United States will veto the proposal, majorities of both groups believe it is not the right thing to do. Around 83% of Palestinians and 69% of Israelis feel the proposal should be accepted and new talks to work out a negotiated peace should be started.

It is time for the United States to do the right thing -- and the right thing would be to allow the vote to proceed in the U.N. without a veto, and then pressure the Israeli government to return to the negotiating table.