After reading Jeff Goldberg's recent interview with Obama, I can only conclude that Obama is living in a reality of his own construction, one that bears no resemblance to actual events. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-02/obama-to-israel-time-is-running-out Obama states that Abbas is "a partner . . . who is prepared to negotiate seriously." Yet, Abbas has stated repeatedly that he is "not prepared to give up one once of Palestinian demands." See, e.g., http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4459571,00.html. NB, Obama, the very definition of negotiate requires that each side make concessions. A person who states from the outset that he refuses to make a single concession, is not negotiating in good faith.
Obama also tells Goldberg that he "believe[s] that President Abbas is sincere about his willingness to recognize Israel and its right to exist." This statement is really quite extraordinary, in light of the fact that Abbas has also stated repeatedly that he will never recognize such a right. As reported by the Obama PR Team at the New York Times, in December of 2013, Abbas made this statement in a letter to Obama himself. See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/world/middleeast/sticking-point-in-peace-talks-recognition-of-a-jewish-state.html.
Most importantly, Obama appears to be willfully ignorant of the events in 2000 at Camp David and in 2008 in Israel, in which, in both cases, Israel attempted to reach peace deals with the Palestinians, but was rebuffed. He appears ignorant, as well, of the events of 2005, in which Israel attempted to begin a process of unilateral withdrawal, which resulted in the election of Hamas in Gaza and barrages of rockets aimed at civilian residences in Israel. Had any one of these attempts to grant Palestinians what they claim to want so badly been successful, there would be no settlement construction today.
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