[quote]WASHINGTON – Exasperated by stalled Middle East peace talks in a season of tumultuous change, President Barack Obama jolted close ally Israel Thursday by embracing the Palestinians' terms for drawing the borders of their new nation next door. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel rejected the idea as "indefensible" on the eve of his vital White House meeting with Obama. The U.S. president said that an independent Palestine should be based on 1967 borders — before the Six Day War in which Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza — as adjusted by possible land swaps agreed upon by both sides. He said Israel can never live in true peace as a Jewish state if it insists on "permanent occupation."[/quote] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110519/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_mideast Basically, if you haven't heard... President Obama wants Israel to give Palestine part of their land. How do you think this will affect the next election?

President Obama wants to give Palestine land that should be Palestine, and Israel has been steadily stealing Palestinian lands for years anyways. Anywho, I'm not sure how much it will affect next election. Zionist right-wingers will complain about it, but they weren't going to vote for him anyways. I'm personally glad the President doesn't feel the need to constantly support Israel in everything, although in general I don't think we should stick our nose in it too much.

What in the world gives Palestine the right to Jerusalem?

The fact that they lived/live there? The fact that that [i]is[/i] the border that was set in the 1967 agreement? Setting aside religious reasoning Palestinians have as much claim to Jerusalem as Jews do.

[b]Son_Of_Fire wrote:[/b] [quote]What in the world gives Palestine the right to Jerusalem?[/quote] Think of it from the point of view from a Palestinian refugee for a moment (who is a third class citizen in areas like Lebanon, by the way). Some people in those camps were children when they watched their parents slaughtered at the hands of the Israelis or when they and their entire families were forced from their homes for no other reason than they came from Ishmael, not Isaac. It doesn't help that after the Six Day War, the UN passed a resolution that told the Palestinian refugees that they had a right to return to their homes in now-Israel. It is very common to see a key painted on the cement blocks that they call home representing the key to the home that they see as stolen from them. It's actually a somewhat similar situation to the founding of the US and how we treated the Native Americans (hint: really badly). Or, perhaps a better analogy for how the Palestinians are now would be how the Isrealites were for so long. Homeless and outcasts to every country. Anyways, I'm with Ron Paul on this issue. We shouldn't be meddling in the Middle Eastern affairs, and for a few reasons. To paraphrase Reagan, we don't know how Middle Eastern politics work. Also, governing the world is not the job of the US. Finally, our debt to GDP ratio is almost at 90%. We just don't have the funds to keep financing these countries and, often times, terrorist cells.

The only thing this will do is give the Palestines more places to throw bombs at Israel from. That's all Gaza Strip is.

[b]Son_Of_Fire wrote:[/b] [quote]The only thing this will do is give the Palestines more places to throw bombs at Israel from. That's all Gaza Strip is.[/quote] I'm not promoting anything in regards to the borders with my statement, I was simply explaining why Palestinians feel entitled to land. However, regarding this quote, I think it should be noted that, on average, Israelis kill three times as many Palestinians as Palestinians do Israelis. Another interesting statistic is that in 2003 Palestinian terrorists killed 21 Israeli children. In the same year, Israeli terrorists killed over 100 Palestinian children.

I doubt the Israelis are actually going to give up the land. They are too concerned with their security to actually give up land. Also they have given up land before to try for peace and it obviously hasn't worked. Another thing, why haven't we heard from Brandon. I am surprised at that.

The reason why there wasn't peace after they "gave up land" is far more complex than presuming that Palestinians aren't going to be peaceful no matter what.

[b]Owlright wrote:[/b] [quote]The reason why there wasn't peace after they "gave up land" is far more complex than presuming that Palestinians aren't going to be peaceful no matter what.[/quote] While I agree, I also think that Israel has tried much harder at peace negotiations than Palestine has.