Is Obama trying to sneak in support for a general Palestinian "right of return"
Odd wording in a New York Times report about President Obama's reported intentions to devote more attention to the Middle East and possibly advance a "peace plan" of his own have raised the bizarre spectre that he actually intends to support the "right" of Palestinians to return within Israel, though not necessarily to the specific properties they left.
The report by Helene Cooper notes that the Obama plan would have the "Palestinians accept that they would not get the right of return to land in Israel from which they fled or were forced to flee."
Dr. Aaron Lerner, co-founder of IMRA, noted that the "odd wording" as it "does not rule out the 'right of return' of refugees to within Israel, just that they do not have the right to a specific address inside Israel. Lerner quips that "the Lefties in Ramat Aviv [a tony suburb of Tel Aviv] don't have to worry that someone will knock on their doors to kick them out of the property that they claim their great grandfather once lived in, but that doesn't mean that millions won't land at Ben Gurion Airport to settle somewhere else in Israel demanding the compensation money they expect to receive for the Ramat Aviv or other property they can't move into."
Lerner wonders: "is Helene Cooper not familiar with the terms of reference or is this the nuance[d] wording the Obama team has come up with that exploits the Israeli tendency not to actually read anything longer than one word?"
Cooper also notes that the basis of the peace plan would be the "1967 borders" that existed before the Six Day War in that year and that Jerusalem would be the capital of both states.
The latest round of "tussling" between the Obama administration and the Israeli government, Cooper reported, came after Hilary Clinton, in Washington at a meeting of the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, announced that Mr. Obama would be “speaking in greater detail about America’s policy in the Middle East and North Africa in the coming weeks.”
Her announcement "electrified" Israeli officials, Cooper wrote, saying the unnamed officials "quickly got on the phone with American officials and journalists to determine whether Mr. Obama had decided to put an American plan on the table. He had not made such a decision, and White House officials cautioned that the internal debate was still going on."
But two days later, House speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio announced his intention to invite Mr. Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress. “America and Israel are the closest of friends and allies, and we
look forward to hearing the prime minister’s views on how we can continue working together for peace, freedom and stability,” Mr. Boehner said in a news release.
The Times article, with its nuances, may be the Obama rejoinder to the "tussle" over American public opinion, even as new public opinion polls show the President hitting new lows both in the general public and among Jewish Americans.