After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s unexpected–and decisive–election win on Tuesday, Barack Obama is ready to do something drastic. He’s planning to sidestep Israel altogether, and call for the U.N. to pass a resolution that would force Israel into peace with the Palestinian Authority.
According to sources within the Obama Administration, the White House is now considering supporting a U.N. resolution that would “include Israel’s 1967 borders with Palestine and mutually agreed swaps of territory.”
Returning to Israel’s pre-1967 borders have been the source of contention for the last several decades.
After a number of neighboring Arab nations declared war on Israel in what is called the Six-Day War, Israel invaded and occupied land in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip–which it now claims is necessary to keep as a buffer zone from future attacks. With its pre-1967 borders, parts of Israel were as narrow as 9 miles wide.
Previously, the United States–as Israel’s strongest ally–has blocked the U.N. from passing resolutions unfavorable to Israel. But, as relations have reached historic strain under Barack Obama, the tide is beginning to shift.
Obama’s new antipathy towards Israel comes from what he calls Netanyahu’s “divisive” re-election campaign.
In the last days of his campaign, Netanyahu–a member of Israel’s conservative Likud Party–publicly abandoned his commitment to negotiate a Palestinian state, and vowed to continue building Israeli settlements on occupied territory.
Netanyahu’s new government will likely be made up of several conservative parties, most of which refuse to give concessions to Palestinian leaders.
Despite losing the support of the Obama Administration, Israel remains committed to retaining their territory and their nation, rather than turn it over to the Palestinian Authority–who is governed by terrorist group, Hamas, and has refused to recognize Israel.
Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., put it more succinctly: “If the U.N. is so concerned about the future of the Palestinian people, it should be asking . . . why Hamas uses the Palestinian people as human shields.”
