If words are a window into the soul, then Barack Obama’s now famous comments to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) 2008 Policy Conference revealed much about his true attitude toward Israel and the not-so-secret agenda of his foreign policy advisers. Here was an opportunity for the great orator to set the record straight and disabuse his critics of the widely held notion that his sympathies are not with Israel’s enemies but with the safety of the besieged Jewish state.
“Let me be clear,” Obama declared to his pro-Israel audience, “Israel’s security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper – but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders.”
For most of those in attendance, the statement by the Illinois senator was nothing short of a ringing endorsement of Israel and its security requirements, an unambiguous declaration that if elected, the new president would not pressure Israel into making life-threatening concessions in the name of peace. So convinced was the AIPAC audience of his sincerity that he received rapturous applause from a crowd long accustomed to lofty pro-Israel declarations by aspiring candidates.
But what was Obama hinting at? A careful parsing of the passage suggests that either he was calling for all Palestinian towns on the West Bank to be linked territorially, something that already exists, or more likely that in any final peace deal Hamas-controlled Gaza must be connected to the West Bank via a land bridge.
In fact, the Obama statement was a sinister reformulation of a key Palestinian demand that, if implemented, would erode not only the geographic continuity of the Jewish state, but could fatally undermine its security as well.
By asserting that “The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive,” Obama implicitly called for the partitioning of Israel, the breakup of a UN member state and U.S. democratic ally, and the sacrifice of its territorial integrity in the face of unrelenting terrorism. This is surely not what the AIPAC audience understood and certainly not what the American people expect of a possible future president.
Nonetheless, the erosion of Israeli security is the logical consequence of any proposal that would press for a contiguous Palestinian state between “Hamastan” and the Palestinian territories on the West Bank. Hamas, after all, is committed to the destruction of Israel and has demonstrated this fact by firing thousands of rockets into Israeli towns and cities since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. The U.S. government has branded Hamas a terrorist organization and has noted its links not only with terrorist groups in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria, but also its close association with al Qaeda.
Surely those advising Obama on foreign policy matters are aware that what their candidate is asking of Israel is nothing short of national suicide. Individuals like Zbigniew Brzezinski, Lee H. Hamilton, Susan E. Rice, Lawrence J. Korb, Joseph Cirincione, W. Anthony Lake and David Bonior boast long resumes opposing Israel security interests and challenging the extent of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Today, neither Egypt nor Israel is able to stem the flow of guns, rockets and explosives from the Sinai Peninsula into Gaza. How then will it be possible to stop this weaponry from migrating over a land bridge and into the West Bank? Setting aside the fact that Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah are today implacable foes, such a corridor would only facilitate terrorist infiltration of the West Bank and bring Hamas terrorists closer to Israeli population centers. A corridor would complete the encirclement of the Jewish state by hostile Arab forces, something that no sane Israeli government could willingly accept.
Obama’s call for Palestinian territorial continuity contradicts all mainstream notions of Israeli defensible borders and security, effectively nullifying his pledge to safeguard the well-being of Israel. It also invalidates his declaration that “We must isolate Hamas unless and until they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel’s right to exist, and abide by past agreements” – something Hamas has pledged never to do.
Troubling, as well, is the use of the word “need” in the Obama declaration: “The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive….” It demonstrates not only a conspicuous break with longstanding American policy, but also a striking ignorance of history. The UN Partition Plan of 1947 gave the Arabs a contiguous and cohesive portion of Palestine upon which to build their state. But the Arabs rejected that generous offer preferring, instead, to attack the nascent Israeli state in the hope of stealing the entire loaf.