Obama welcomed the Netanyahu speech:
"The president welcomes the important step forward in Prime
Minister Netanyahu's speech," said White House press secretary Robert
Gibbs. "The president is committed to two states, a Jewish state of
Israel and an independent Palestine, in the historic homeland of both
peoples."
President Barack Obama "believes this solution can and must ensure
both Israel's security and the fulfillment of the Palestinians'
legitimate aspirations for a viable state, and he welcomes Prime
Minister Netanyahu's endorsement of that goal," Gibbs added.
Akiva Eldar called it a colonialist speech:
Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a patriarchal,
colonialist address in the best neoconservative tradition: The Arabs
are the bad guys, or at best ungrateful terrorists; the Jews, of
course, are the good guys, rational people who need to raise and care
for their children. In the West Bank settlement of Itamar, they're even
building a nursery school.No empathy for the refugees from Jaffa who lost their entire world,
not a word for the Muslim connection to Jerusalem neither a fragment
of a quote from the Koran, nor a line of Arabic poetry.
Benjamin Hartman's blog at Haaretz makes a similar point:
The speech was like a nod to the old pre-intifada way of looking at the Palestinians, but at the same time mentioning two states.
It seemed to be no to dividing Jerusalem, no to the return of refugees or an independent state and no to a real settlement freeze. But you'll be well-off and taken care of.
I think Netanyahu has make it pretty clear that he will toe the line of his coalition and won't make any big concessions.
Helena Cobban is more optimistic:
This is, of course, only this Israeli leader's opening position in what I hope will be a speedy and successful negotiation. It is one that keeps his hard-line coalition intact and pays a nod to Washington on the two-state question, while Bibi is continuing to dig his heels in hard on the settlement issue.
…
His concession on a Palestinian "state" is still extremely paltry. Worth giving a small welcome to, I suppose. But let us never forget that Bophuthatswana and its like were also, back in the day, described by Pretoria (and significantly also by Israel), as "states."The term means nothing unless the state has real powers to determine its own policies…
So now we've gotten Bibi to say the S-word, Obama should push as fast as possible to secure a final-status peace in which the issues of Jerusalem, final borders, and refugees are all finally resolved. This S-word– like S-for-settlements S-word– is only a very preliminary step on the way.
I'd note that Netanyahu's speech had a nationalist character, mentioning the right of the "Jewish people" a dozen times, and their right to a state or homeland in the Holy Land. Meantime, he described the Palestinians as virtual interlopers:
–"a Jewish homeland for the Jewish People, [said] Theodor Herzl, the visionary of the State of Israel"
–"the right of the Jewish People to its own state in its historical homeland."–"The State of Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish People and will remain so."
–"We recognize the right of the Jewish People to a state its own in this Land."
–"The fundamental condition for ending the conflict is the public,
binding and sincere Palestinian recognition of Israel as the national
homeland of the Jewish People."
–"the demand to settle the Palestinian refugees inside of Israel,
contradicts the continued existence of the State of Israel as the state
of the Jewish People."
–"The connection of the Jewish People to the Land has been in existence for more than 3,500 years."
–"The right of the Jewish People to a state in the Land of Israel does
not arise from the series of disasters that befell the Jewish People"
–"The tragedies that arose from the Jewish People's helplessness show very sharply that we need a protective state."
–"Eretz Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish People."
–"The truth is that in the area of our homeland, in the heart of our
Jewish Homeland, now lives a large population of Palestinians."
–"Palestinians must truly recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people."
–"if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state…"
