USA: Israeli and Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside White House as Obama, Netanyahu meet inside

Record ID: 321077

  • Title: USA: Israeli and Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside White House as Obama, Netanyahu meet inside
  • Date: 21st May 2011
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (MAY 20, 2011) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS WITH BANNER IN FRONT OF WHITE HOUSE BANNER READING "FIGHT TERRORISM. SUPPORT ISRAEL."
  • Embargoed: 5th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7VOH7GKREI0H42RPF0LBE1CCZ
  • Story Text: Protesters from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute exchanged arguments outside the White House on Friday (May 20) as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama met within.
    Obama and Netanyahu met a day after the U.S. president endorsed a longstanding Palestinian demand for pre-1967 borders for their future state.
    Pro-Israel protesters waved Israeli and American flags and carried a banner reading "Fight Terrorism. Support Israel."
    "We're here to say to Obama that his support for the Islamic terrorists is unacceptable, that his desire to split Israel is unacceptable, to divide Jerusalem is unacceptable and who the hell is he to play this dirty little game? We've been occupying this land for 5000 years. He's attacking our Jewish faith and then at the same time he wants to give Jerusalem to the very people who danced in the streets after 9-11," Bob Kunst, president of Shalom International in Miami said.
    One pro-Palestinian protester arrived in a Barack Obama costume, holding up a sign reading "Building settlements prohibits peace," and two women stood behind a section of metal fencing with a sign that asked "where's my homeland?"
    "What we're after is to liberate and support the Palestinians. They've been oppressed and occupied and colonized for over 40 years and Israel needs to let them go, needs to free up the West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem," Michael Rabb, a resident of Boulder, Colorado said.
    Protesters pointed fingers at each other, disputing the meaning of historical border changes in the region.
    Netanyahu should "stick to his guns" during the meeting with Obama, Warren Manison said. "Obama has never been to Israel. He was in Cairo, less than an hour away flight in 2009 but he never went to Israel. He simply does not understand the facts on the ground," he added.
    Code Pink for Peace protester Eric Anderson said Obama's speech did provide hope for Palestinians, but he is still wary about the future.
    "Barack Obama has made a very good gesture so far by suggesting that they obey international law and withdraw behind the '67 borders, so that's a positive thing. We've heard it before and so we'll wait and see before we start opening the bottles of champagne," he said.
    On the other side of the White House fence, Netanyahu bluntly told Obama his vision for the borders of a future Palestinian state would leave the Jewish state with an "indefensible" frontier.
    Netanyahu's remarks after White House talks between the leaders underscored how a new U.S. push for Middle East peace had opened one of the deepest divides in years in relations between the United States and close ally Israel.
    The brewing crisis in U.S.-Israeli relations dimmed even further the prospect for resuming peace talks that collapsed late last year when Palestinians walked away in a dispute over Israeli settlement building in the West Bank.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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