PrintMay 28, 2011
Netanyahu's Victory Lap
Within a remarkable ten-day span Prime Minister Netanyahu forcefully articulated peace terms for Israel and the Palestinians. In speeches to the Knesset and Congress, he thwarted President Obama's proposals for Israeli capitulation while marginalizing Mahmoud Abbas for as long as the Palestinian Authority remains wedded to its new partnership with Hamas. Climaxed by his enthusiastic reception in Congress only days after his chilly public confrontation with the American president, it was a bravura performance.Netanyahu skillfully avoided the trap set by Obama's emphasis on Israel's return to "1967 borders" (accompanied by "land swaps"), which are actually the indefensible 1949 armistice lines. He shifted the focus from what Israel must do to what is required of the Palestinian Authority. As he had told Israelis of his willingness to accept a Palestinian state, so he insisted that President Abbas must say to his people what Palestinians have never...(Read Full Article)
