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White House Grades
p
resident Obama earned an "A!'
for effort in trying hard in his
first year to bring Arabs and
Jews closer together in the Middle East,
but his strategy for moving forward
deserves only a "C-", says the national
director of the Anti-Defamation League.
Abraham Foxman
of the ADEs New
York office lauded
the president's goal
as consistent with
his predecessors
— namely, to achieve
a lasting and secure
peace between Israel
ADL's Foxman and the Palestinians
and the Arab states.
"Like other presidents:' Foxman says,
Obama "sees the U.S. as the key outside
player in trying to advance the peace
process, but he says time and again
that, ultimately, the parties themselves
have to make the decisions for peace.
He has articulated the importance of
getting Arab states, particularly Saudi
Arabia, to contribute to peace by taking
steps, however small, to normalize rela-
tions with Israel.
"And he recognizes that the greatest
threat to the region, to hopes for peace
and to American interests comes from
extremist Islam, especially from Iran
with its unrelenting drive to develop
nuclear weapons and to destabilize the
region!'
Foxman shared his first-year report
card on Feb. 5 in Palm Beach and reit-
erated it before 79 ADL supporters on
April 8 in Birmingham.
Strategically, the Obama administra-
tion chose early on, particularly in its
public rhetoric, to focus on Israeli set-
tlement policy as the key to getting the
parties back to the table in search of
a peace where the Palestinians finally
accept Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish
state and the need to compromise.
"Let's be clear',' Foxman says. "Israeli
leaders on both sides of the political
divide understand that in any final
peace agreement, Israel will have to
make major concessions on the settle-
ment front. Four prime ministers —
Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert
and now Benjamin Netanyahu — have
each, in his own way, taken steps that
reflect this understanding.
"It's a very different thing, how-
ever, to make settlements the key to
peace, the key to peace talks. Such an
approach, which characterized the
administration from the outset, distorts
and minimizes the far greater obstacles
to reaching an accord — Palestinian
rejectionism, terrorism and the teach-
ing of hatred of Israel. It unfairly puts
the onus on Israel for the absence of
negotiations. And it gives an ongoing
excuse to the Palestinians not to talk."
Foxman recounted how Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton indicated that
Prime Minister Netanyahu's morato-
rium on settlement building for nine
months was an unprecedented political
step, which should have set the stage
for the Palestinians to start talking and
for Arab leaders to do something posi-
tive toward Israel.
Now, Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas insists that he will
not negotiate without a complete freeze
in settlement growth, including in east
Jerusalem.
Foxman urges the White House to
reiterate to the Palestinians that Israel
has made significant concessions
regarding a Palestinian state and settle-
ments and that further delays in talks
are not justified or acceptable.
Foxman spoke to what is achievable
in the short term:
• Improving the quality of life for
Palestinians and to ensure security
against terrorism that is not solely
dependent on Israeli security measures.
• Finding through negotiation some
kind of territorial agreement in the
West Bank.
• Tougher sanctions on Iran, which is
a global concern, although Israel is the
only nation targeted for destruction.
"The priority must be to prevent Iran
from becoming nuclear by whatever
means are necessary,' Foxman says.
Foxman urges Obama to make bet-
ter use of the moral and strategic rela-
tionship between the U.S. and Israel.
"This would be especially critical in
combating the growing, worldwide
anti-Israel movement around the
world, as represented by efforts to
delegitimize Israel, boycotts, divest-
ment campaigns and prosecutions
of Israelis based on the Goldstone
report:' Foxman says.
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SAVE THE DATE!
WOMEN OF VISION
'Wednesday. October 13. 2010
Featured Speaker — Arianna Huffington
Author. columnist and co-founder of the Huffington Post
N C J
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GreaLer Cittrc-At
May 20 • 2010
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