Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at first reacted harshly last week after President Obama used his May 19 Mideast policy speech to call for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement "based on 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps." Bibi called the borders "indefensible."
But when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton essentially said the same thing last November, Bibi seemed to have little problem with it. In fact, he and Clinton issued a joint communique. Here’s the key piece of their joint statement from Nov. 11, 2010:
The Prime Minister and the Secretary agreed on the importance of continuing direct negotiations to achieve our goals. The Secretary reiterated that "the United States believes that through good-faith negotiations, the parties can mutually agree on an outcome which ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state, based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israeli security requirements." Those requirements will be fully taken into account in any future peace agreement.
So why all the fuss after Obama’s speech last week?
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