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Putting Obama's Words on Israel-Palestinians in Perspective
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - In his final address as president to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, President Obama devoted 31 words of a 5,600-word speech to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land." Reflecting a penchant to play up the negative, the Israeli media highlighted the second part of Obama's sentence while downplaying the first part: that the Palestinians must reject incitement and recognize Israel's legitimacy. But in reality, Obama's sentence was telling in its symmetry, apportioning responsibility equally to both sides. And the Palestinians came first in the sentence order.