Community | May 28, 2009 | 10 comments

Obama to discuss Mideast with Abbas

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30978394/

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WASHINGTON - The Palestinian president will be pushing President Barack Obama on Thursday to facilitate peace with Israel through a larger solution to the Middle East conflict.

Top Palestinian officials traveling with President Mahmoud Abbas said he was working to repackage a 2002 Saudi Arabian plan that called for exchange of Arab land occupied by Israel in the 1967 war for normalized relations with Arab countries.

Obama's meeting with Abbas is the third of four key sessions the administration had planned as the president tries to reinvigorate the push for Middle East peace, an accord that has eluded American leaders, the Israelis and their Arab neighbors for more than a half-century.

Obama has made brokering peace in that region a top priority but has found new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a recalcitrant partner. Netanyahu was in Washington last week.

Jordan's King Abdullah II opened the round of visits by Middle East leaders on April 21. Talks with President Hosni Mubarak, originally scheduled for Tuesday, were postponed after the unexpected death of the Egyptian leader's grandson. The two leaders now plan to meet June 4 in Cairo, where Obama plans to deliver a major speech to the Muslim world. On his way to Egypt, Obama plans to meet next Wednesday in Saudi Arabia with King Abdullah.

Netanyahu so far has refused to acknowledge past Israeli commitments to an independent Palestinian state. Beyond that he has given no positive response to Obama's demand that Israel stop building or expanding settlements on land that Palestinians claim as part of a future state of their own.

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Source: MSNBC
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10 comments // Obama to discuss Mideast with Abbas

  • fun_size
  • spanky07
  • fun_size
    • 0
      fun_size  
    • spanky07:

      Its that kind of racist mentality that makes that place so unstable. There is no "chosen people" and the land is not theirs by birthright. Palestine deserves at least a share of THEIR OWN territory.

    • 2 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
  • dmass5
    • 0
      dmass5  
    • spanky07:

      Alright, im Pro-Israel but even that is completly retarded. Religion is a world thing, there is no one "right" religion with "chosen people",

      its a crock of shit

    • 2 years ago
  • jh64487
  • GoliathandDavid
  • Vierotchka
  • maxscoville
  • Mattattack
    • 0
      Mattattack  

    • Excellent. This is where Obama shines, the speech. I hope we can deliver something real here, which is still going to take substantial change in Israeli policy. It's unfortunate that these Likud hawks keep getting elected there, instead of one of the many qualified members of other political factions who may be more reasonable on this issue. Or maybe none of 'em would, but Obama needs to put real pressure, even in the form of threatening economic sanctions on Israel for it to get out of the West Bank and come to the table for two-state settlement and renewed treaties for normalization of relations amongst the region. Also, I think Palestine is going to have to figure out their Fatah and Hamas issue, as two parties disputing power is probably not helpful when trying to develop stability.

    • 2 years ago
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