Message to President Obama

Dear President Obama,

Many of your admirers during the first 100 days of your presidency have been saying that your administration needs to get out in front with your Middle East policies, especially regarding the Palestinian Question, or Israel will do it for you.

You have always stated your desire for an independent Palestinian state, living in peace alongside Israel. Your sympathies for the Palestinian refugees are well documented.

But your administration has yet to spell out specific strategic goals, timelines, or your definition of the final objective in achieving the ultimate peace between these people.

Time is running short for you, Mr. President! We want to urgently impress upon you the need for your administration to solidify and clarify your goals and objectives with Israel’s new Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Please refer to our Wall Map showing Palestine Reborn which we have sent.

We know that the new coalition government in Israel is already angling to sabotage the two-state negotiations by redefining the strategic perils in the Middle East. Netanyahu has come to Washington to diminish the importance of the Palestinian Issue and to replace it with Iran as the most pressing issue of the day,

Please don’t let him fool you as he did President Clinton!

This will be an egregious example of diplomatic “bate and switch”, and you should not stand for it.

The May 18 meeting has been the first and most crucial test of resolve and force of personality in dealing with the legendary Israeli intransigence and you have handled it well! Netanyahu knows full well that the international community is committed to the two-state solution. He came to Washington to size you up – to find out if, as Vice President Joe Biden says, you have a “backbone of steel”.

The Israelis will correctly point out that Iran is a growing concern in the region, but they will also incorrectly – and shamelessly – try and convince you that the Palestinian Question needs to be put on hold until Iran has been marginalized or contained – a process that will take years at best.

You have looked Netanyahu in the eyes and let him know that, unlike George W Bush, the Obama administration will not roll over and allow the Israeli right wing to dictate our foreign policy objectives. And you did not blink!

Throwing one roadblock after another to stave off the Two-State Solution has been a disastrous policy for Israel over these many years, and coming up with another excuse to further ignore the problem will not add to their security.

We thank you, Mr. President, for delivering a forceful and commanding dose of reality to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Nothing else has ever worked with the Israelis!

You must be willing to threaten Israel with diminished foreign aid if they insist on embracing the same hollow rhetoric, and continue with settlement expansions in the Palestinian West Bank territory.

The Palestinian people were watching and listening on May 18. You have been their champion from day one! Break out of the eight-year stalemate that has allowed Israel to dodge making the hard compromises – allowed them to dictate the ever-changing peace-talk agenda that has gone nowhere.

Justice for the Palestinians is long overdue. It can be yours to deliver!

Let the true peace process begun on May 18 lead to success during your term in office!

Thank you!

Citizen Paul

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