President Obama Calls For Arab Construction Moratorium

He didn't say it in so many words, but that's the clear implication (assuming he sees himself as an honest broker) of the following words uttered at his press conference on September 10, 2010, the second day of Rosh Hashanah:

"What I’ve said to Prime Minister Netanyahu is that, given, so far, the talks are moving forward in a constructive way, it makes sense to extend that moratorium so long as the talks are moving in a constructive way.  Because, ultimately, the way to solve these problems is for the two sides to agree what’s going to be Israel, what’s going to be the state of Palestine.  And if you can get that agreement, then you can start constructing anything that the people of Israel see fit in undisputed areas."

Carefully consider what he said, from an objective perspective: He is saying that the Arabs and Israelis are going to have to agree on what portions of the disputed territories, the unallocated portions of what had been the British Mandate over Palestine, will be incorporated into Israel and which parts will be given to the Palestinian Arabs to be incorporated into their own state.

(He is assuming that, sooner or later, the Palestinian Arabs will stop blocking the establishment of another Arab state in Palestine alongside Israel and the existing Palestinian Arab state of Jordan, which already comprises nearly 80 percent of Palestine. This is a dubious assumption, but let's grant it to him.)

He, for some reason, feels there shouldn't be additional housing for Jews built in those territories until the division of the disputed territories is resolved.

It's obviously unfair to ask one group to refrain from building homes unless the other side is treated the equivalently. If one grants President Obama the benefit of the doubt and assumes he is an honest broker, he thus obviously feels the Palestinian Arabs should also stop building additional housing in that disputed territory until there is an agreement on their division.

Unless he's not an honest broker.

Postscript:

The following documented facts, but which are indisputable but generally either forgotten or ignored, must be borne in mind if there are to be meaningful negotiations:

1. The Armistice Agreements specifically state that the armistice lines were not political borders and essentially were to be disregarded when borders were negotiated.

2. By calling for secure borders, United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 specifically bars using the armistice lines as borders.