Obama Departs From U.S. Policy on Jerusalem

As I have written, Obama is the perfect messenger to the Arabs that their meshugas and ridiculous demands will not receive a warm welcome simply by virtue of his middle name. If we have to resort to Biblical argumentation that Israel is more important to Judaism than Islam, let us have that discussion, because the Jewish argument is the winner by a longshot. I can't count the number of times that Jerusalem is mentioned in Torah and that it forms the center of Jewish redemptive theology. Islam, on the other hand, places Jerusalem third in importance in the Muslim world - the Dome of the Rock is where Muhammed was alleged to ascend to heaven. But the unquestioned center of Islam is Mecca. The Jewish Mecca is Jerusalem.

Randy Shiner



Obama Departs From U.S. Policy on Jerusalem
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
June 05, 2008

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - In his quest for Jewish votes on Wednesday -- the day after he claimed the Democratic presidential nomination -- Sen. Barak Obama went beyond U.S. policy on the issue of Jerusalem when he said the city would remain the united capital of Israel.

"Let me be clear," Obama told America's largest pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, on Wednesday. "Israel's security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive and that allows them to prosper. But any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided," he said in comments widely viewed as intended to win the hearts of Jewish voters.

While Israelis applauded such a notion, the Palestinians were not pleased.

"This statement is totally rejected," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying.

"The whole world knows that holy Jerusalem was occupied in 1967 and we will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state," Abbas said.

Current U.S. policy maintains that Jerusalem is a final status issue to be decided by the Israelis and Palestinians themselves.

Until recently, Israel insisted that Jerusalem would be its undivided capital forever. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city for the capital of a future state.

Israel reunited the city after 19 years as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War and declared the city to be its capital, prompting international embassies to leave the city in protest.

No country in the world maintains an embassy in Jerusalem. The U.S. has two consulates there, but its embassy is in Tel Aviv.

Dr. Eran Lerman, director of Israel/Middle East office of The American Jewish Committee told Cybercast News Service that Obama's speech was good in that it disabused the Palestinians of the notion that all they have to do is wait until the next president takes office and they'll have everything they want "delivered to them on a platter."

They now know that would never happen.

In his speech, Obama also called for the isolation of Hamas -- "unless and until they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist, and abide by past agreements." That is in line with current U.S. policy. "There is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organizations," he added.

In April, a top Hamas official Ahmed Yousef said that Hamas liked Obama and hoped he would become the next U.S. president. But a Hamas spokesman in Gaza has now retracted that support.

Sami Abu Zuhri was quoted by Reuters as saying that Obama's comments now confirm that there would be "no change in the U.S. administration's foreign policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Both the Democratic and Republican Parties support what Zuhri called "the Israeli occupation at the expense of the interests and rights of Arabs and Palestinians."

He said that Hamas does not differentiate between presidential candidates Obama and Arizona Senator John McCain and had no preference as to who wins because "their policies regarding the Arab-Israel conflict are the same and are hostile to us."

Israelis liked it

"Without any doubt it was a great speech. He hit all the right notes," said former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Zalman Shoval. "Whoever gave him advice was well acquainted with the issues," he said, from Israel being a Jewish State to Jerusalem to security.

It was good that such a speech was made by a presidential candidate. Even if he loses, he's still an important person, Shoval told Cybercast News Service.

In general, Shoval said, a politician's long-term voting record counts more than campaign speeches.

Shoval said he can't remember any candidate who has not promised to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

In an analysis in Thursday's Jerusalem Post, Herb Keinon wrote that Israelis' "lack of enthusiasm" can be attributed to the fact that he's "an unknown" to Israelis and secondly because there is skepticism about who Obama will surround himself with.

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