{"id":861,"date":"2011-05-19T16:25:26","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T20:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/windowsanddoors\/?p=861"},"modified":"2011-05-19T16:25:26","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T20:25:26","slug":"president-obama-on-israel-and-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2011\/05\/president-obama-on-israel-and-the-middle-east.html","title":{"rendered":"President Obama on Israel and the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Obama gave a much anticipate address this afternoon \u2013 one which responded to a variety of events including the so-called \u201cArab Spring\u201d and to the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians.\u00a0 You can follow this link<\/a> to read the entire speech, but for me, there were a few things which really stood out.<\/p>\n

I was most struck by the President\u2019s assertion that we don\u2019t need to accept how things are, but can work toward how they could be \u2013 with humility.\u00a0 While I am not sure that such humility about the role of history and indigenous culture was a part of all that he suggested we could achieve or help others to achieve, I appreciate the President\u2019s commitment to what I would call hopeful realism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the matter of Israel and the Palestinians, I think he addressed real concerns on both sides, appropriately discomforted some players on each of those sides, and made it absolutely clear that while peace could never be imposed by any government or other diplomatic body, both sides have a pressing responsibility to work this out sooner than later.\u00a0 Playing for time is in nobody\u2019s interest, no matter how much they may currently think it is.<\/p>\n

Of course, asserting the dangers of procrastinating when it comes to peace is easier than overcoming the desire to procrastinate \u2013 especially given that some on both sides feel entirely justified in doing so.\u00a0 I hope that we can move forward.\u00a0 In fact, I know that we must, but doing so is built on a premise which the President shared in his talk \u2013 one about which I am not sure he is correct: \u201cI\u2019m (President Obama) convinced that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians would rather look to the future than be trapped in the past.<\/p>\n

Is he right?\u00a0 I am just not sure.\u00a0 I am not sure about the percentages on either side, nor am I clear about the percentages on the two sides being close.\u00a0 I even understand why a stateless people will find it much harder to let go of the past given that their present is far more tenuous.\u00a0 But I also know that both sides must do this, regardless of how they assess their present circumstances, \u00a0if they really hope to live with any measure of peace and security in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Obama gave a much anticipate address this afternoon \u2013 one which responded to a variety of events including the so-called \u201cArab Spring\u201d and to the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians.\u00a0 You can follow this link to read the entire speech, but for me, there were a few things which really stood out. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2,1],"tags":[77,45,46,11,12,31],"class_list":["post-861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-israel","category-news","category-politics","tag-israel-news","tag-middle-east","tag-middle-east-peace","tag-news-2","tag-politics-2","tag-president-obama"],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Obama on Israel and the Middle East - Windows and Doors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2011\/05\/president-obama-on-israel-and-the-middle-east.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Obama on Israel and the Middle East - Windows and Doors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Obama gave a much anticipate address this afternoon \u2013 one which responded to a variety of events including the so-called \u201cArab Spring\u201d and to the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians.\u00a0 You can follow this link to read the entire speech, but for me, there were a few things which really stood out. 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