Netanyahu's talk with Obama...hope for the Palestinians?

During his campaign, Barack Obama promised to shed a new light on the dark path of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Will he keep this promise or will the turmoil that has existed for the past 60 years continue to worsen?


Just recently the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most right wing and controversial leaders (according to bbc), met with President Barack Obama to discuss the situation. Their talks seemed to go much smoother than during Clinton's Presidency when Netanyahu was Prime Minister of Israel.



So of course, the Israeli Palestinian conflict was discussed. Obama called on Netanyahu to push forward for a two-state solution. I think Netanyahu's request is fair that Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state but on the same note I think Israel needs to make more of an effort to stop the humanitarian crisis that exists in Gaza and give Palestinians their freedom and basic rights. While I think Israelis need to have a homeland, I believe Palestinians do too. Palestinians have always been displaced. A large majority of Palestinians are not living in Palestine but in other countries as displaced people/refugees.



In my opinion, its a bit ironic because Obama and Netanyahu both agreed that a nuclear Iran was a threat to the international community yet prior to the 1970's Iran was very close allies with Israel and the United States. However, Obama emphasized the need to open talks with Iran. This could be a positive thing as long as there are results in these talks that lead towards better Middle East diplomacy.



Netanyahu also agreed to reopen talks with Syria...this is a step in the right direction. hopefully. The disputes that are ongoing between Syria and Israel and Israel and Lebanon need to be addressed immediately because they are situations that can easily escalate. That would not be good for the international community at all. The turmoil that exists in the Middle East causes an extremely delicate situation to exist. this hotspot is literally in the middle of the map. any upset in the region shakes the balance of the entire world. Plus with all the oil reserves that exist in countries like Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the two leading nations in oil exports, we need to make sure the region is stable.

Lets just hope Barack Obama does a good job with direct diplomacy and takes a more aggressive but positive stance in Middle East policy.