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We strongly support President Obama in his renewed effort towards Middle east peace process inspite of tremendous pressure from Israel and very strong Jewish lobby .If Israel sincerely believes in peace and understands in all seriousness that status quo is not sustainable, then Israel needs to cease decades of illegal occupation, annexation, blockade. Stop the continuous encouragement of Palestinian lands, put a stop to building of settlements, building of walls.
Israel refuses the 230 binding UN resolutions, it refuses One state solution, it refuses two state solution. Israel also refuses to sign the NPT treaty. Israel refuses the Palestinians’ right to come back home. It is high time that Israel realizes that more that 4 decades status quo is unsustainable and unacceptable in this age of political awakening around the world. World is watching, new generation is tired of all the excuses for maintaining status quo by denying Palestinians right of existence. It is high time Israel steps up. It is time…

CAIRO — In the eyes of many Arab viewers, President Barack Obama struck the right tone with the first three-quarters of his highly anticipated speech Thursday on the Middle East and North Africa, where popular rebellions are reshaping the region’s relationship with the United States.

He talked tough on Bahrain, defended the NATO-led campaign in Libya, issued an ultimatum to Syria, took a swipe at Yemen’s stubborn ruler and pledged a multibillion-dollar aid package to Egypt and Tunisia.

But then came his remarks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the decades-old battle at the heart of much of the Arab world’s disenchantment with U.S. policies. The support garnered by Obama’s praise for young revolutionaries seeking dignity evaporated as Obama talked about the “unshakeable” U.S. bond with Israel.

“It kind of sucks all the air out of the room,” Michael Hanna, a Middle East scholar at the Century Foundation, a New York-based research center, said about the speech’s last few paragraphs. “This is something that, at all times, cuts to the core.”

Obama made only passing mention of Israel’s continued building of illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands, which his administration has sought and failed to get the Israelis to stop. He also stressed that the United States would oppose the Palestinian leadership’s efforts toward passage of a resolution recognizing a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly.

Instead, Obama appeared to put the onus for peace negotiations on the newly reconciled Palestinian factions, singling out the Islamist group Hamas for failing to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

“Obama needs to stop adding slogans and start taking concrete steps to protect the rights of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

Israeli politicians appeared happy with the speech. Minister Gilad Erdan, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called it “a good base” for the prime minister’s meeting with Obama, scheduled for Friday.

Arab views, expressed by commentators and average citizens alike, were considerably more downbeat. Many noted that Obama ignored longstanding Arab demands.

“A complete stop to settlements, opening all terminals, recognizing the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, and working to establish a Palestinian state,” said Egyptian real estate broker Ahmed el-Sayed, 33, rattling off the demands heard from Cairo to Baghdad.

Obama praised Wael Ghonim, the Internet executive credited with helping to organize Egypt’s revolution, but Ghonim appeared unimpressed, using his Twitter account to comment: “Noticed that @BarackObama mentioned #Israel 28 times vs. #Egypt 13 times, #Tunisia 9 times, & Palestine 4 times during his #MESpeech.”

Not even Obama’s declaration that negotiations for a Palestinian state must start from the pre-1967 lines, with some agreed-upon territorial swaps, won praise, with commentators noting that the Israelis have already rejected the position.

“That was essentially the Clinton plan a long time ago,” Hanna said. “It’s sort of insulting that the mere mention of it should be seen as progress.”

As for the rest of the speech, some Arab viewers praised the president for humanizing the uprisings with personal tales of several revolutionaries, including the Tunisian street vendor whose self-immolation was a catalyst for the collective protest movement.

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