The Current Discussion: Are Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama on a collision course over Iran and the Palestinian problem? What would be the consequences of a breach between the United States and Israel?
Netanyahu's policies are clear - and widely rejected by virtually the entire world because they smack of Zionist colonialism that perpetuates the European colonialism of the 19th century. Obama's policies vis-a-vis Israel-Palestine, on the other hand, are less clear, because he has not articulated them in any depth beyond saying he favors a two-state solution. This conforms to the prevalent international norm and UN resolutions, but does not indicate much else about whether the U.S. will lean on Arabs and Israelis alike to move towards this goal, or how the U.S. views options to address the central issue in the conflict from the Arab perspective, which is the fate and rights of the Palestinian refugees.
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