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Posted by
Orange Blossom Special
on Sat Jun 7 15:34:29 2008
edf40wrjww2msgDetailOT:detailStr fiogf49gjkf0d Days after Hill's RFK speech, he midjudges while flip-flopping and groveling to the special interest.
Palestinians are reacting angrily to Barack Obama's first foreign policy speech as the presumptive U.S. Democratic presidential candidate in which he called for Jerusalem to be the "undivided" capital of Israel
Speaking to the pro-Israeli lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Obama called for Jerusalem to "remain the capital of Israel."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was swift in his condemnation of the speech.
"This statement is totally rejected," he told reporters. " The whole world knows that holy Jerusalem was occupied in 1967, and we will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital."
Right on, we all remember the Jordanian apartheid wall and how their soldiers used civilians for sniper practice! no division!
Speaking to reporters in Washington after meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was effusive about Obama's speech, calling it "very moving" and "impressive."
Obama's picture and comments dominated the front page of most major Israeli newspapers Thursday with some commentators calling his speech an embrace of Israel.
But for the Palestinians, especially those living in East Jerusalem, the speech was seen as a blow to their hopes of the holy city becoming the capital of their future state.
Hosa Ahmed, a father of four and a drama teacher, said he fears Obama is willing to sellout Palestinian interests in order to win the presidency.
"If he [wants] to pay to be president, he [has] to pay from his pocket, not from our pocket. There [are] two people in Jerusalem," Ahmed told CBC News.
Many Palestinians had identified Obama as an underdog due to his minority status and hoped he might signal a change in the United States's perceived pro-Israeli bias, says Zakaria al-Qaq of Al-Quds University, an Arab university in Jerusalem. But with Obama's latest comments, that sentiment will change, al-Qaq said.
"It's distressing, and it's kind of really showing no respect for us," he said.
Republicans have taken aim at Obama for earlier remarks indicating the Democratic presidential hopeful would be willing to speak with U.S. foes such as Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, does not recognize Israel.
Not all Palestinians immediately abandoned their positive view of Obama, though, suggesting instead that his remarks are simply political posturing.
Translation, they think he's a lier on their side. aka, a new type of politican.
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