By HELENE COOPER
When they meet Friday, President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel face a turning point in a relationship that was not warm to begin with.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/middleeast/20policy.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
President Obama and PM Netanyahu Are Facing a Turning Point: Distrustful Allies To Meet
THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH "on the Middle East and North Africa", at the State Department: "[W]e face a historic opportunity. We have the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator. ... Yes, there will be perils that accompany this moment of promise. But after decades of accepting the world as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be. Of course, as we do, we must proceed with a sense of humility. It's not America that put people into the streets of Tunis or Cairo -- it was the people themselves who launched these movements, and it's the people themselves that must ultimately determine their outcome." Transcript http://1.usa.gov/lauOCh Video, with two fact sheets http://1.usa.gov/kLGnJO
--Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, to David Gregory on "Meet the Press Midweek Press Pass," re Syrian President Bashar Assad: "[H]e has chosen time and again to take a series of steps that further isolate himself both from his own people and from the region. So the president not only said it's time for him to lead or leave, but spelled out a series of steps that he needs to take -- to include stop killing his own people, [and] to allow to human rights investigators including from the United Nations into Syria to see exactly what's happened on the ground." http://on.msnbc.com/jsi2Xd
--Foreign Policy's Mark Lynch and NPR's Andy Carvin moderate a discussion between Twitter users (#MESpeech) and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes http://1.usa.gov/iUUJsM
--FRONT PAGES: WSJ (4-col. lead), "Obama's Israel Surprise" ... N.Y. Times (2-col. lead), "OBAMA SEEKS END TO THE STALEMATE ON PEACE TALKS: Sees Pre-'67 Borders as Starting Point - Israel Immediately Voice Protest" ... Financial Times, "Israeli PM hits back at Obama over West Bank call" ... WP (2-col. lead), "Obama urges Israel to make push for peace: 1967 BORDERS AS A STARTING POINT: President also presses Arab allies on reforms" ... Chicago Tribune, "Obama: Peace talks can't wait -- Speech on eve of Netanyahu visit startles Israel, carries warning for Palestinians" ... L.A. Times, "A blunt push for peace Obama has tough words for Israel and the Palestinians, urging them to stay ahead of the wave of popular unrest" ... The Guardian, "Obama tells Arab dictators: change or go -- Warning to Syria coupled with call for Israel to pull back to pre-1967 borders" ...London Times, "US challenges Israel."
REACTION, from Kevin Robillard:
-- Mitt Romney: "President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus. He has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace."
-- Tim Pawlenty: "To send a signal to the Palestinians that America will increase its demands on our ally Israel, on the heels of the Palestinian Authority's agreement with the Hamas terrorist organization, is a disaster waiting to happen. At this time of upheaval in the Middle East, it's never been more important for America to stand strong for Israel and for a united Jerusalem."
-- Mitch Daniels, to conservative talker Michael Smerconish: "What is going on in the Arab world these days has little or nothing to do with Israel or Palestine, it has to do with tyrannical regimes which have really stifled prospects for their people who are now restless for a better life... I don't think right now it pays very much of a dividend to try to cut the Gordian Knot of Israel and Palestine."
--@EWErickson: Tomorrow, Netanyahu will push the U.S. to cede all territory gained from the 1848 Mexican cession back to Mexico. ... @Goldberg3000: Various unworthies saying Obama threw Israel under a bus. This is utterly delusional. Obama's position on borders is same as George W Bush's
--WaPo's Jackson Diehl: "The president was urged by several senior advisers not to delve deeply into Israeli-Palestinian affairs in this speech, just as he was warned last year not to continue insisting on a freeze of Israel's West Bank settlements. ... The result has been the draining of attention from the speech's central discussion of Arab democracy, a cheap talking point for GOP opponents - and yet another pointless quarrel with Bibi Netanyahu." http://wapo.st/ke1H6j
--Sen. John McCain, to Sean Hannity on Fox: "This is setting a limitation on the boundaries of the state of Israel without regard to the Israelis having a country that they can defend militarily.." http://bit.ly/m4lMyx
--WP editorial: "Mr. Obama gave coherence, resources and direction to a U.S. Middle East policy that had been confused and underpowered. Though the United States cannot determine the outcome of the conflicts and attempted democratic transitions underway from Libya to the Persian Gulf, effective implementation of the new strategy could help tip what has become a seesaw battle between reform and reaction." http://wapo.st/k2nN5k
--Elliot Abrams: "On the whole, the president's comments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will lead nowhere. It is striking that he suggested no action: no meeting, no envoy, no Quartet session, no invitations to Washington." http://on.cfr.org/mxSqsG
Go to POLITICO Playbook Now >> http://www.politico.com/playbook
--Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, to David Gregory on "Meet the Press Midweek Press Pass," re Syrian President Bashar Assad: "[H]e has chosen time and again to take a series of steps that further isolate himself both from his own people and from the region. So the president not only said it's time for him to lead or leave, but spelled out a series of steps that he needs to take -- to include stop killing his own people, [and] to allow to human rights investigators including from the United Nations into Syria to see exactly what's happened on the ground." http://on.msnbc.com/jsi2Xd
--Foreign Policy's Mark Lynch and NPR's Andy Carvin moderate a discussion between Twitter users (#MESpeech) and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes http://1.usa.gov/iUUJsM
--FRONT PAGES: WSJ (4-col. lead), "Obama's Israel Surprise" ... N.Y. Times (2-col. lead), "OBAMA SEEKS END TO THE STALEMATE ON PEACE TALKS: Sees Pre-'67 Borders as Starting Point - Israel Immediately Voice Protest" ... Financial Times, "Israeli PM hits back at Obama over West Bank call" ... WP (2-col. lead), "Obama urges Israel to make push for peace: 1967 BORDERS AS A STARTING POINT: President also presses Arab allies on reforms" ... Chicago Tribune, "Obama: Peace talks can't wait -- Speech on eve of Netanyahu visit startles Israel, carries warning for Palestinians" ... L.A. Times, "A blunt push for peace Obama has tough words for Israel and the Palestinians, urging them to stay ahead of the wave of popular unrest" ... The Guardian, "Obama tells Arab dictators: change or go -- Warning to Syria coupled with call for Israel to pull back to pre-1967 borders" ...London Times, "US challenges Israel."
REACTION, from Kevin Robillard:
-- Mitt Romney: "President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus. He has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace."
-- Tim Pawlenty: "To send a signal to the Palestinians that America will increase its demands on our ally Israel, on the heels of the Palestinian Authority's agreement with the Hamas terrorist organization, is a disaster waiting to happen. At this time of upheaval in the Middle East, it's never been more important for America to stand strong for Israel and for a united Jerusalem."
-- Mitch Daniels, to conservative talker Michael Smerconish: "What is going on in the Arab world these days has little or nothing to do with Israel or Palestine, it has to do with tyrannical regimes which have really stifled prospects for their people who are now restless for a better life... I don't think right now it pays very much of a dividend to try to cut the Gordian Knot of Israel and Palestine."
--@EWErickson: Tomorrow, Netanyahu will push the U.S. to cede all territory gained from the 1848 Mexican cession back to Mexico. ... @Goldberg3000: Various unworthies saying Obama threw Israel under a bus. This is utterly delusional. Obama's position on borders is same as George W Bush's
--WaPo's Jackson Diehl: "The president was urged by several senior advisers not to delve deeply into Israeli-Palestinian affairs in this speech, just as he was warned last year not to continue insisting on a freeze of Israel's West Bank settlements. ... The result has been the draining of attention from the speech's central discussion of Arab democracy, a cheap talking point for GOP opponents - and yet another pointless quarrel with Bibi Netanyahu." http://wapo.st/ke1H6j
--Sen. John McCain, to Sean Hannity on Fox: "This is setting a limitation on the boundaries of the state of Israel without regard to the Israelis having a country that they can defend militarily.." http://bit.ly/m4lMyx
--WP editorial: "Mr. Obama gave coherence, resources and direction to a U.S. Middle East policy that had been confused and underpowered. Though the United States cannot determine the outcome of the conflicts and attempted democratic transitions underway from Libya to the Persian Gulf, effective implementation of the new strategy could help tip what has become a seesaw battle between reform and reaction." http://wapo.st/k2nN5k
--Elliot Abrams: "On the whole, the president's comments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will lead nowhere. It is striking that he suggested no action: no meeting, no envoy, no Quartet session, no invitations to Washington." http://on.cfr.org/mxSqsG
Go to POLITICO Playbook Now >> http://www.politico.com/playbook
Netanyahu Responds Icily to Obama Remarks
By ETHAN BRONNER
The speech prompted Israel's prime minister to push back testily and the Palestinians to call an urgent meeting.
By all accounts, they do not trust each other. President Obama has told aides and allies that he does not believe that Mr. Netanyahu will ever be willing to make the kind of big concessions that will lead to a peace deal.
For his part, Mr. Netanyahu has complained that Mr. Obama has pushed Israel too far — a point driven home during a furious phone call with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday morning, just hours before Mr. Obama’s speech, during which the prime minister reacted angrily to the president’s plan to endorse Israel’s pre-1967 borders for a future Palestinian state.
Mr. Obama did not back down. But the last-minute furor highlights the discord as they head into what one Israeli official described as a “train wreck” coming their way: a United Nations General Assembly vote on Palestinian statehood in September.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/mi...