Family Life

05.20.11 | Sarah Harnisch

  With just a few words, President Obama threw out the biggest U.S. foreign policy change in 60 years. At his speech at the White House Thursday, he said "we believe the borders of Israel and Palistine should be based on the 1967 lines." What does that mean? The founder and Dean of the Simon Weisenthal Center, Rabbi Marvin Hier, says the new lines would split the city of Jerusalem: with east Jerusalem sliding into the hands of Palistine. Hier says "the fact of the matter is that Israel would be a much smaller country then it already is." Why couldn't Israel just hand east Jerusalem over to the Palistineans? Especially if they got a land swap in exchange? Hier says it's because it's possible that a terror group could get their hands on part of Jerusalem. He said "they're talking about a splintered Palistinean leadership, a weak leader in Mahmoud Abbas, and the terror group Hammas is part of the coalition." All eyes today are on the meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, set for 11:15 today.