http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPol...aspx?id=221071
White House denies draft of Obama's ME speech was leaked
US official says report that draft of address calling on Israel to withdraw to 1967 lines had been shown to Israeli officials is untrue.
By JPOST.COM STAFF, HERB KEINON, HILARY LEILA KREI
05/18/2011 07:51
The White House on Tuesday denied as "completely false" reports that a draft of US President Barack Obama's Middle East speech, calling on Israel to return to the 1967 lines, had been shown to Israeli officials.
Yediot Aharonot on Tuesday reported that Obama would classify the settlements as “illegal,” and would call on Israel to return to the 1967 lines with negotiated border adjustments in the speech scheduled for Thursday. The report said this was the message that emerged from talks that new National Security Council head Ya’acov Amidror and his predecessor Uzi Arad held in Washington in recent days with White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon. The report said Amidror and Arad asked that changes be made in a draft of Obama’s speech....
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yedioth_Ahronoth
Yedioth Ahronoth (Hebrew: ידיעות אחרונות, lit. Latest News) is a daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel.[1] Since the 1970s, it has been the most widely circulated paper in Israel....
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english201...c_13879553.htm
Israeli media reveals U.S. president's forthcoming Mideast speech
English.news.cn
2011-05-17 21:03:33
JERUSALEM, May 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will call on Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders and agree to additional concessions that will enable a resumption of the peace process, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Tuesday.
The newspaper claimed to have obtained a draft of Obama's planned speech at the State Department on Thursday in which he will outline his administration's Middle East policy, in light of the anti-government protests that have swept the region over the past year.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Sunday that Obama would raise the need for progress in the peace process. However, he did not reveal whether the president planned to present a diplomatic initiative to revive the process, after negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians broke down last September.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Obama will call on Israel to withdraw to the 1967 cease-fire lines with territorial adjustments that will be agreed on in the negotiations with the Palestinian National Authority. The president will label the West Bank settlements as "illegal" and emphasize that Israel must halt their construction.
Obama's position on the settlement blocs, which Israel slates to remain under its sovereignty in any peace deal, is yet unclear.
The president is also expected to announce his solution regarding the status of Jerusalem and call for its division. The U. S. envisions the city as the shared capital of the two states, Israel and Palestine, side by side in peace.
Such a stand would essentially echo the so-called "Clinton Parameters" offered by then-president Bill Clinton in 2000, which called predominantly Arab neighborhoods to come under the Palestinian sovereignty while Jewish neighborhoods remaining within the Israeli territories.
Yedioth Ahronoth claimed that the contents of Obama's speech were shared with Netanyahu's national security advisor Ya'akov Amidror and his predecessor Uzi Arad in their recent discussions with senior U.S. officials.
Amidror and Arad were dispatched to Washington last week to prepare the ground for Netanyahu's scheduled meeting with Obama on Friday, the report said.
The two purportedly met with White House national security advisor Tom Donilon, trying to convince him and other officials that Obama's positions essentially matched those of the Palestinians.
The Israelis are said to have stressed that Obama's initiative will not enable "real" peace negotiations and demanded that changes be inserted, according to the paper, which quoted an unidentified U.S. official as answering the two that "you are familiar with the positions of American administrations. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already specified in detail an Israeli-Palestinian agreement last October."
Amidror, however, on Monday categorically denied that such a meeting had ever taken place, saying that "Not one word in that article is correct."
"There was no meeting with Donilon ... no talks. The meeting simply never occurred," Amidror told Army Radio.
Obama's address will not be short of demands on the Palestinians, according to Yedioth Ahronoth. The president is expected to explicitly demand a Palestinian willingness to accept the conditions set forth by the Mideast Quartet, including a recognition of Israel's right to exist, a renunciation of violence and incitement, and dropping a unilateral declaration of statehood at the United Nations in September.
As a precursor to his speech before a joint session of the U.S. Congress next Tuesday, Netanyahu on Monday evening presented lawmakers his basis for negotiations with the Palestinians, saying that Israel was prepared to "cede parts of our homeland for true peace," though he assessed that there is no partner on the Palestinian side.
In his address, Netanyahu expressed Israel's willingness to withdraw into several West Bank settlement blocs while maintain its military presence in the Jordan Valley. The future Palestinian state, he said, would be demilitarized and created only through a peace agreement.
Netanyahu outlined his preconditions for entering peace negotiations with the Palestinians, saying that these preconditions enjoyed the support of a majority of the Israeli public.
The Palestinians would first have to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, Netanyahu said. A peace agreement also must end the conflict and any further Palestinian demands. Netanyahu said Palestinian refugees would not resettle in Israel and the settlement blocs would remain under the Israeli sovereignty.
Regarding Jerusalem, Netanyahu said the city would remain Israel's "united capital," a position echoed by all Israeli governments since 1967.
The prime minister added that Israel would not be able to strike a peace agreement with a Palestinian government if half of it was comprised of the members of Islamist group Hamas.
Linear Mode
