Word: palestinians
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Whatever the intent, Obama seemed unfazed. In a press conference after the two leaders had met privately for about 90 minutes, the President emphasized that Israel must start taking the peace process seriously by putting a halt to the construction of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, lifting the blockade on Gaza and accepting the idea of a Palestinian state next door. Obama's no-nonsense words were a far cry from the easy ride that Israeli Premiers got from the Bush Administration. As columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israeli daily Ma'ariv, "There wasn't a single blister that...
...away from the session with a newfound wariness of each other, like circling prizefighters. Obama wants to rally Arab nations to create a bloc against Iran's nuclear ambitions, and he thinks that the only way to bring the Arabs on board is to achieve headway on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu wants Iran defanged, but the hawkish Premier doesn't see the linkup or why he needs to make concessions to the Palestinians, especially ones that might jeopardize Israel's security. (See pictures of 60 years of Israel...
...voicing approval for a two-state solution, an agreement that Israel signed on to before Netanyahu was elected Premier that is the cornerstone of U.S. policy in the region. Netanyahu objects, partly because of his own convictions and partly because his right-wing coalition partners oppose a Palestinian state. At the White House, Netanyahu did his usual tiptoe around the words "two-state solution," repeating his earlier mantra: "We don't want to govern the Palestinians. We want them to govern themselves...
That sort of doomsday rhetoric won't necessarily go down well with the White House. Iran's intentions worry the U.S. too, of course, but Obama and his advisers are expected to move briskly to an equally pressing matter: Netanyahu's refusal to back the idea of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the keystone of U.S. policy in the Middle East, and Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are demanding that Netanyahu sign on. Netanyahu has hinted that he does not oppose the creation...
Still, there was some good news to emerge from his travels to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories in that his presence did not detonate any religious or political dynamite. With the quest for peace between Israelis and Palestinians at a dangerous impasse, just making the Middle East trip - against the counsel of some of his more cautious advisers - would seem to carry some bankable positive weight for the Pontiff...