Obama national security aide chides Israel over settlements

Since his election in 2012, Obama has maintained a level
of pressure on Israel exceeding that of any former president,
and he wants an agreement based on the '67 lines with land swaps

The fact that recent negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 world powers have not resulted in the lifting of sanctions only minimally mitigates the danger that these discussions are even taking place. Frequently during the first two years of his presidency, Obama has berated Israel and professed the notion that Israeli settlements were at the root of its problems with the Palestinians. At one point in 2008, he had said that Jerusalem must remain undivided, but he later apologized, saying “undivided” was a poor choice of words.

On May 19, 2011, Obama began what we call a “six-day tap dance” with Netanyahu, when he presented a policy speech in which he asserted, “The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the [pre-]1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.” The next day Netanyahu took his first dance steps during a White House press conference following a private meeting with Obama, spelling out why anything based on the indefensible pre-1967 borders could never be one of the concessions Israel was willing to make for peace.

The dance continued on May 22, when Obama addressed AIPAC’s 2011 Annual Policy Conference, clarifying what he meant by “[pre-]1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.”