President Obama (AP)
NOT LISTENING: While President Obama spoke in Jerusalem yesterday of peace, anti-Israeli strife in the West Bank (above) and Gaza continued. (
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JERUSALEM — President Obama told Israelis that “peace is possible” and emphatically called attention to the plight of Palestinians — just hours after rockets launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza landed in southern Israel.
Obama delivered an impassioned plea for compromise to a crowd of young Israelis in Jerusalem, earning big applause from a receptive audience that embraced his call to “put yourself in their shoes” and work for peace.
“It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day,” he said.
Obama told Israelis they had a “true partner” in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has called for a two-state solution.
But the latest missile attack from Gaza — an area Abbas doesn’t control — and new anti-Israel protests in the West Bank underscored the difficulty he would have delivering on any accord.
By speaking directly to the Israeli public, before an audience of enthusiastic college students rather than delivering a speech to the nation’s legislative Knesset, Obama was tearing a page from his playbook back home.
The president even invoked the US civil-rights struggle as he urged students to press political leaders to compromise on talks with Palestinians, the same tactic he has used to pressure Republicans at home.
And he reassured Israelis, “As long as there is a United States of America, you are not alone,” eliciting thunderous applause.
Earlier yesterday, Obama traveled to Ramallah in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, where he met with Abbas to discuss the “core issues” that divide Israelis and Palestinians — security, land, Jerusalem and refugees.
US and Palestinian Authority law-enforcement snipers lined the rooftops of the complex of government buildings where Obama was welcomed with fanfare.
Obama, who in the past has slammed new Israeli settlement construction, nevertheless said he didn’t want to “put the cart before the horse” by insisting on resolving all issues before talks can begin, a move away from the Palestinian position.
“The core issue right now is how do we get sovereignty for the Palestinian people and ensure security for the Israeli people,” Obama said.
He said new Israeli settlement activity isn’t something he considers to be “constructive, to be appropriate, to be something that can advance the cause of peace,” even as Abbas called the new settlements “illegal” and a “hurdle towards the two-state solution.”
Obama also toured a technology convention in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where they stopped at an exhibit and shared a piece of matzo that a robot handed them.
The president will head to Jordan today for talks with King Abdullah II.