Let's not forget that our current (Republican) President has the exact same plan -- dividing Israel. "Two-state solution."
Good point.
Years ago, when attending college, I was influenced to a large degree by this nonsense of Israel being partially responsible, Israel needing to compromise and give up land etc etc etc. It was seen as “intellectual” to hold such positions since it showed depth and open mindedness as well as inclusiveness.
Then a few things happened. I learned something about the region through self study. I visited the Middle East on four occasions, to include Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and in 2003-2004 Iraq as part of OIF for 16 months in a single stay.
The bottom line is simple. (A quick down a dirty history of this area.)
The people calling themselves Palestinians are no Philistines; that entire argument of this land being theirs is bogus. Israel took land such as the Golan Heights after it was attacked by an overwhelming Arab force and won. The terrorists come from one side, the same side that’s unwilling to compromise. Israel has made offers that bend forward and backward to accommodate others, compromises which cost Yitzhak Rabin his life, put Israel at a tactical disadvantage, and the Palestinian side was unwilling to accept the offer, even though they got 99% what they asked for. No Arab state wants the Palestinians, including Jordan, which would love to peddle the Palestinians off since many of their problems are from them as well. Most Muslims hate the Jews, which are like in Nazi Germany a scapegoat of radical Islamic thought, despot regimes that oppress their people and blame the Jew for the problems they create. Israel is a nation ruled by laws; it’s a democracy, a republic which allows non Jews to live there, protected by the same laws as all others. It’s a nation with a Constitution, continuity of government, where people amass wealth and have personal property. In the Palestinian or Arab quarters you might get your head cut off after being kidnapped. The Palestinians see themselves as “victims” but preach death and are unwilling to compromise. Even Arafat spoke out of both sides of his mouth, and it’s kind of hard to negotiate with people who at the core of their belief want total destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. How do you negotiate with those that blow up busses and shoot rockets into cities?
Everywhere, this cult of Islam sets up shop, the clock stops. Lebanon use to be Christian until they moved in, today Lebanon is a backward, corrupt, filthy and dangerous place. Cross the boarder at Taba and on one side you have Israel, resort town, grass, clean water, modern conveniences, shopping malls etc., on the other side you have busted up roads, women covered up, a hole to crap into while squatting, food that will make you sick if you eat it, and water that’s unsafe to drink. 500 yards apart, two worlds live that are completely opposite. One wants to move foreword, the other backward.
What I realized when visiting the Middle East and Israel is that this problem is much larger in the grand scheme. People talk of the “Clash of Civilizations,” and that is essentially what you have in the Middle East with Israel. Israel is an island of Judea Christian values, Western values, and an industrialized nation with a European way of thinking. This is in stark contrast to all those who surround it, which see this as a threat to their power as imam, ayatollah, sheik or mufti; a world where women have the purpose of breeding and are subjects of their men, where Islamic clergy yield power.
The West was spared the plight of Israel for a long time since few Muslims lived in the West. You didn’t see people with names like Hussein in Germany or the US mid 1950. However, with falling walls, internet, mass movement of goods and services and today parts of Europe having as many as 8.5% Muslims (France) and even the US with 1% the problems which for a long time were isolated to Israel have spread to Europe and North America. Today you have Madrid, London, WTC, and other attacks because essentially two mutually exclusive value systems are in conflict with one another and these people are here too. In the most liberal of liberal nations such as the Netherlands, where prostitution, drugs, nearly anything is OK; a permissive society it’s not the rejection by society, but it’s the Muslims needs to force his world view on others that’s the core of the problem. You have a Muslim stabs Van Gogh to death, threats to Senators, schemes to blow up government installations and Pim Fortuyn (political leader of a party) got shot dead, all in religious based strife in a society that does not care if you’re a homosexual communist, having four wives, smoking dope, that you grow on your balcony in plain sight, and run through town naked. The problems of Israel are no longer confined to Israel, and in a way, we deserve it, for we the West for decades were appeasing, even pressuring the Israeli’s to back off, the Israeli’s to compromise, the Israeli’s to give up land…….. The problem isn’t Israel.
But in the meantime, expect those like Arafat to get Nobel Prizes, long articles about the evil Israeli’s written in Newsweek, and people in the West to think they sound “intellectual” when they say Israel is part of the problem.
I wouldn't necessarily use the word "exact." There may be important differences in the details, and we can't say for sure becuase Obama hasn't spelled out any details.
But we do know that if Obama's "wisdom" were followed in 2003, Saddam Hussein would - if he were alive - still be in power in Iraq, which would have made life even more difficult for Israel vs. the Palis.