Legal Commentary

Next year in Jerusalem?

By Beldar

The precise status of Jerusalem has been the focus of blow-torch hot debate continuously since it was captured (or liberated or re-captured, there's argument even about that) by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel, pointing to historic Jewish ties to the ancient city going back to the 10th Century BC, considers Jerusalem to be its modern capital. Indeed, the distantly subsidiary issue of when and whether the U.S. will officially move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has itself been the subject of years of national and international debate, and even of legislation passed by Congress in 1995 (supposedly compelling a move that, once again this week, has been suspended for another six months). Palestinians consider Jerusalem to be the capital of Palestine, however, and continue to demand its "return."

I mean no offense to anyone, but if you didn't already know this, you cannot consider yourself even moderately well informed on Middle East diplomacy in particular or world history in general. Jerusalem is a hot-button issue. Any American politician or diplomat who ventures to talk about Jerusalem's future is rolling sideways through a minefield.

But now somebody is running for president on a platform that through smart and tough diplomacy, he's going to fix all the Middle East's problems that poor damn dumb George W. Bush has just willfully ignored for seven years. So he shows up to woo the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Wednesday of this week, and here's what happens, according to WaPo's Dana Milbank (boldface mine):

A mere 12 hours after claiming the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama appeared before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee yesterday ? and changed himself into an Israel hard-liner.

He promised $30 billion in military assistance for Israel. He declared that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force has "rightly been labeled a terrorist organization." He used terms such as "false prophets of extremism" and "corrupt" while discussing Palestinians. And [Obama] promised that "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided."

Vowing to stop Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon, the newly minted nominee apparent added: "I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally, Israel. Do not be confused."

How could they be confused? As a pandering performance, it was the full Monty by a candidate who, during the primary, had positioned himself to Hillary Clinton's left on matters such as Iran. Yesterday, Obama, who has generally declined to wear an American-flag lapel pin, wore a joint U.S.-Israeli pin, and even tried a Hebrew phrase on the crowd.

Brilliant public diplomacy, no? Surely the reasonable leaders who purport to represent the Palestinian people must have been persuaded by this dazzling, diplomatic young American with the multi-cultural name and heritage, no?

No.

A day later, offstage (and with news of his retreat buried by his MSM friends on places like page A6 of the WaPo), Diplomat-in-Chief Obama has to back down with his tail between his legs (boldface mine):

Facing criticism from Palestinians, Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged yesterday that the status of Jerusalem will need to be negotiated in future peace talks, amending a statement earlier in the week that the city "must remain undivided."

Obama's statement, made during a speech Wednesday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, drew a swift rebuke from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"This statement is totally rejected," Abbas told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "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."

The Bush administration's official position is that the status of Jerusalem must be decided by the parties. Before he left office, President Bill Clinton proposed a formula under which "Jerusalem should be an open and undivided city," including locating the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.

Obama quickly backtracked yesterday in an interview with CNN.

"Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations," Obama said when asked whether Palestinians had no future claim to the city.

Yes, that damned, dumb, undiplomatic George W. Bush is sure holding up the works in achieving Middle East peace. It's a good thing that Obama will be bringing us change we can believe in ? typically from one of his positions to something else, often within 24 hours. In this instance, it's change back to precisely Dubya's position. Genius! Insightful! How has the world managed without Diplomat-in-Chief Obama for so long?

Full post as published by BeldarBlog on June 06, 2008 (boomark / email).