Obama's West Bank trip raises hope, skepticism

**Terri** · #1 07-23-2008, 08:34 AM

By KAREN LAUB
Associated Press
July 23, 2008

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants Barack Obama to take away one message from their meeting Wednesday -- he should focus immediately on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if elected, or any gains made in peace talks could vanish.

Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate, made time in his jam-packed Mideast schedule for what is to be a 45-minute meeting with Abbas.

During a stop in Jordan on Tuesday, Obama suggested that he was open to the Palestinians' request, saying that he'd do his best to bring Israelis and Palestinians together, "starting from the minute I'm sworn into office." However, he also cautioned that it is "unrealistic to expect that a U.S. president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."

More

ddrinsp · #2 07-23-2008, 11:59 AM

Watching Obama during his Middle-East tour leaves me with the impression that I am watching a well-scripted, expertly directed movie. It is obvious that every gesture and facial expression by Obama is posed, practiced, and executed to perfection. Personally, it makes my skin crawl for a potential POTUS to be so manipulative. But manipulation only works when the person does not REALIZE they are being manipulated. Hopefully, Obama supporters will wake up before November.

cruiseprof · #3 07-23-2008, 06:31 PM

This is exactly what I am afraid of. I believe that Obama will side with the Palestinians. As far as I am concerned, the Palestinians have no rights, they do not exist as a separate people, they are not victims or refugees & their land belongs to what is now Jordan, as well as parts of Syria & Lebanon.

I do not believe in a two-state solution, and I do not believe that Jerusalem should be divided. I believe that all of the land that now constitutes Israel belongs to the Jews. The Jews already gave up the vast majority of the land that was promised to them by the League of Nations, after World War I. Whatever land the Israeli's won through war with their neighbors belongs to the Israeli's fair & square.

The so-called Palestinians should be absorbed by their Arab Muslim brothers & sisters throughout the Middle East. The problem is that the Palestinians are such pathetic, lazy, violent animals, that the other countries in the Middle East don't want them.

They are refugees because they choose to be refugees. If they agreed to be resettled into other countries, they would lose their refugee status, and thus their precious "right of return" to Israel.

What gives the Palestinians the right to the land that is Israel? Since Judaism predates Islam, the Jews were on that land first. The Muslims stole that land from the Jews.

The Jews are the innocent victims -- not the Palestinians. Palestinians living in Israel today have more rights & freedoms than Muslims living in any other state in the Middle East. They should be thankful that they live in Israel, and if they want to stay there, they should learn to peacefully coexist with the Jews.

The Israeli's should take back Gaza & the West Bank, and form one, contiguous country again -- not a divided country with arbitrary & shifting borders.

schillerbjr · #4 07-23-2008, 07:53 PM

Obama changes positions so much, you need a
"weatherman" to forecast the "change"!

The man is "HOPELESS"!

George123 · #5 07-23-2008, 09:07 PM

Obama is all HYPE.