Israeli Prime Minister
Still, Mr. Obama was right not to back off from the only credible way forward in his speech Sunday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most influential pro-Israel lobbying group in
Moreover, the president took pains to emphasize that the Palestinians will have to make hard choices as well. He warned them against attempting to seek a shortcuts to statehood through a
Mr. Netanyahu's blustery response to Mr. Obama's remarks ignored the crucial, and obvious, caveats the president laid out as conditions for any deal. Mr. Obama is not insisting that the 1967 lines be adopted as final but merely that they be recognized for what they have always been — the basis for drawing a new map based on mutually agreed upon land swaps that guarantee security and territorial integrity for both sides. Mr. Netanyahu had the chance to amend his initial overreaction in his own speech to AIPAC, scheduled for tonight, and in an address to Congress tomorrow.
In the context of the broader movement for democracy and freedom that is sweeping across the Middle East, the most remarkable part of Mr. Obama's statement last week was his assurance that, from now on, the United States would make the furtherance of democratic its values, rather than the pursuit of stability, the cornerstone of its policy in the region. Some will surely criticize the president for putting America's principles above the realpolitik of its economic and political interests. But Israel's leaders surely should not be among them. No state in the Middle East comes close to representing our democratic values the way Israel does. We cannot and will not abandon it. But that doesn't mean we must accept the false notion that doing what it takes to make peace with the Palestinians will make Israel less secure.