Obama: It’s 2 states or 1 state (not Israel)

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One sentence in the speech, President Obama delivered today at the United Nations General Assembly jumps off the page.

If an agreement is not reached, Palestinians will never know the pride and dignity that comes with their own state. Israelis will never know the certainty and security that comes with sovereign and stable neighbors who are committed to co-existence. The hard realities of demography will take hold.

On the surface, that prediction seems like a warning to both sides. But it isn’t.

All is he telling Palestinians is that, with no agreement, the stateless status quo will continue. That is bad, but it’s not catastrophic. After all, Palestinians have lived with the occupation for 43 years and, year by year, their numbers are growing and international support is skyrocketing. As bad as the status quo is, they can weather it.

For Israel, however, Obama warns that without a peace deal, it will never know security and that soon enough “the hard realities of demography will take hold.”

In other words, the Palestinians will hold an overwhelming majority in Israel plus the occupied areas and, inevitably, the whole land will be transformed into some kind of single state, Palestine/Israel. Jewish statehood will disappear as Israelis choose West Bank settlements over preserving the Jewish state within internationally-recognized borders.

Again, for Palestinians, Obama’s idea of a possible future is bad but not “the end.” For Jews, who recall what the price of statelessness is, Obama’s warning is terrifying.

But he is absolutely right. Those are the choices.

My father-in-law who was a Holocaust survivor hated the occupation and West Bank settlements. He used to say that if Polish Jews like him had even a tiny Jewish state to flee to in 1939, it would have been “like heaven.” All the Jews needed was a piece of Palestine, with borders controlled by Jews, which could have let them in.

He died in 1990, never understanding why any Jew would choose an unsustainable Greater Israel over the permanent security of an Israel within the pre-’67 borders, at peace with its neighbors. But then, he was of another time, another place. Growing up in eastern Poland, he could never be the Jewish ultra-nationalist whose worldview was created by the terrors of the New York, Boston, Chicago or L.A. suburbs. Huffington Post

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6 responses to “Obama: It’s 2 states or 1 state (not Israel)”

  1. josephphd Avatar

    president obama this an idea for you as you know the united nation has created and approved of the state of israel in 1948 so it looks like israel is part of that world in the middle east and is going no where; because the land is too small to fit too many people israel population is now around 10 millions ;it would do no good trying to cut that land and place the palestinians there ,it will only create more wars and more fighting in the future and it will only makes the middle-east more violent and unstable and will not resolve this problem;
    the phalestinian people they need their own state just like any other people in the world so they can preserve there culture and there dignity ;
    my idea to you is :you can build them sate in of egypt or OTHER ARABIC COUNTRY
    those countries they have millions of square miles unhabited you can ask them to sell a land about the size of lebanon 10,000 squre miles and that is considered a tiny dot in those two large countries which the size of there state about 4 millions square mile
    now who should pay for the land and the construction (united state ,; rusia ; england ; should saudi arabia ;iran israel; etc… any rich coutry that can afford to help and willing to help) that is the best way to achieve peace in that area in my opinion .

  2. josephphd Avatar

    president obama this an idea for you as you know the united nation has created and approved of the state of israel in 1948 so it looks like israel is part of that world in the middle east and is going no where; because the land is too small to fit too many people israel population is now around 10 millions ;it would do no good trying to cut that land and place the palestinians there ,it will only create more wars and more fighting in the future and it will only makes the middle-east more violent and unstable and will not resolve this problem;
    the phalestinian people they need their own state just like any other people in the world so they can preserve there culture and there dignity ;
    my idea to you is :you can build them sate in of egypt or OTHER ARABIC COUNTRY
    those countries they have millions of square miles unhabited you can ask them to sell a land about the size of lebanon 10,000 squre miles and that is considered a tiny dot in those two large countries which the size of there state about 4 millions square mile
    now who should pay for the land and the construction (united state ,; rusia ; england ; should saudi arabia ;iran israel; etc… any rich coutry that can afford to help and willing to help) that is the best way to achieve peace in that area in my opinion .

  3.  Avatar

    presiden obama this an idea for you as you know the united nation has created and approved of the state of israel in 1948 so it looks like israel is staying in that part of the world because the land is too small to fit soo many people israel population is now around 10 millions ;it would do no good trying to cut that land it will only create more wars and more fighting in the future and it will only makes the middle-east more violent

    the phalestinian people they need their own state just any other countries in the world so they can preserve there culture and there dignity just like any other people in the world ;

    my idea to you you can build them there sate in the desert of egypt or saudi arabia

    those two countries they have millions of square miles unhabited you can ask them to buy a land about the size of lebanon 10,000 squre miles and that is only a tiny dot in those two large countries which the size of there state about 4 millions square mile

    now who shoul pay for the land and the construction united state should pay so should rusia so should england so should saudi arabia ;iran israel; etc… any rich coutry that can afford to help and willing to help and the best way to achieve peace in that area in my opinion if you like to value my opinion base on education i have a master degree from a us university…

  4. josephphd Avatar

    another message mr president this is a very complicated problem to solve is more important unemployment problem here in the us
    you need to create more jobs for the american people as far as the phalestians make proposal for egypt is more likley to sell YOU a land
    egypyt is 1 millions square MILES of land area you only need .01% IS THE SIZE OF LEBANON 5000 SQURE MILE ;
    EGYPT IS A POOR COUNTRY THEY WILL SELL THIS LAND TO THE UNITED NATIONS FOR 1 BILLION DOLLAR AND THE UNITED NATIONS CAN ASK COUNTRIES FOR DONATIONS AND YOU CAN START BUILDING THE PHALESTININAN ESTATE AND ESTABLISH A HOME LAND FOR THEM AND THAT WOULD BE A GOOD SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM
    NOW YOU MAY ASK WHY SHOULD YOU LISTEN TO ME I HAVE A PHD DEGREE AM JUST A VOLUNTEER T HELP FOR PEACE IN THAT AREA

  5. josephphd Avatar

    another message mr president this is a very complicated problem to solve is more important unemployment problem here in the us
    you need to create more jobs for the american people as far as the phalestians make proposal for egypt is more likley to sell YOU a land
    egypyt is 1 millions square MILES of land area you only need .01% IS THE SIZE OF LEBANON 5000 SQURE MILE ;
    EGYPT IS A POOR COUNTRY THEY WILL SELL THIS LAND TO THE UNITED NATIONS FOR 1 BILLION DOLLAR AND THE UNITED NATIONS CAN ASK COUNTRIES FOR DONATIONS AND YOU CAN START BUILDING THE PHALESTININAN ESTATE AND ESTABLISH A HOME LAND FOR THEM AND THAT WOULD BE A GOOD SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM
    NOW YOU MAY ASK WHY SHOULD YOU LISTEN TO ME I HAVE A PHD DEGREE AM JUST A VOLUNTEER T HELP FOR PEACE IN THAT AREA

  6.  Avatar

    another message mr president how are you are going to solve this very complicated problem and you ca,nt even solve our unemployment problem here in the us

    that is why you need to listen to me and find a land for the phalestinian in egypt and some other arabic countries and build them a state if you keep them by irael they will be wars for ever and there will never be piece

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