Veh is mir!

The issue is not the 1967 border–President Obama did not ask the Israelis to accept it, but to use it as the basis for negotiation of territorial swaps that would result in a more secure and defensible Israeli border.  There is nothing controversial about that.  It is what all Israeli prime ministers before Netanyahu have accepted.

Nor did Netanyahu use his speech to Congress to pick at that scab.  In fact, he was at pains to close ranks with President Obama as much as possible.  But note that he did not talk about “swaps,” which imply equal exchanges of territory, only about generosity.

But he made it clear that he is asking much more than other Israeli prime ministers have been prepared to accept.  He wants explicit recognition of Israel as a Jewish state (the existing PLO recognition of Israel tout court is not sufficient), he wants all of Jerusalem (which would presumably preclude part of it being the capital of Palestine), he wants Israeli troops along the Jordan river (not clear to me which way the guns will be pointing), he wants no return of Palestinian refugees to Israel (even though Israel would end up with the lion’s share of the land).

And he expects American support for these positions, which would wreck any near-term hope of a negotiated agreement.  So does he really accept the two-state solution?  I think not, despite his explicit reference to it as free, viable and independent.

The next big move in this diplomatic game will be at the General Assembly in the fall, when the Palestinians attempt to get a resolution that will “recognize” their state.  This is a bit silly, since the GA doesn’t recognize states, and GA resolutions are cheaper by the dozen and often ignored. But Israeli and American opposition to the resolution has made it symbolically important.  The GA does recommend states for UN membership, but President Obama has signaled clearly that the U.S. would veto that in the Security Council, which has the final say.

My grandmother would support Netanyahu.  I say what she taught me:  “oy, veh is mir.”