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Obama’s Israel Surprise President Issues Clear Call for Talks on Palestinian State Based on Pre-1967 Borders

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama, seeking to get ahead of historic changes rolling through the Middle East, promised support for democratic uprisings in the Arab world and called for the first time to begin negotiations for a Palestinian state based on Israel’s pre-1967 borders.

Mr. Obama, in a wide-ranging speech on the Mideast, stressed to a global audience—the speech was broadcast in English, Arabic and Farsi—that with the fall of governments in Tunisia and Egypt and the death of Osama bin Laden, the era of al Qaeda and Islamist militancy is giving way to an age of popular rule.

Yet the responses to Mr. Obama’s speech highlighted the difficulty he will have in reconciling myriad interests in Washington, Israel and the Arab world.

With grievances deep and ideological lines drawn decades ago, some in the Mideast, including Israel’s prime minister, said Mr. Obama went too far; some pro-Israel U.S. lawmakers agreed. Others, from Palestinians to Arab diplomats, said he didn’t go far enough.

“We have the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator,” Mr. Obama said in his 45-minute speech at the State Department. “There must be no doubt that the United States of America welcomes change that advances self-determination and opportunity.”

WSJ’s Alan Murray and John Bussey lead a wide-ranging discussion in advance of President Obama’s address from the State Department in which he outlined the U.S.’s Middle East policy.

Mr. Obama specifically called on the leaders of Libya, Syria and Bahrain to cease brutal crackdowns that have left thousands dead in recent weeks. And he pledged billions of dollars in international assistance for Tunis, Cairo and other Mideast governments seeking to embrace democratic transitions.

In part, the president said he chose this moment to make a sweeping statement about the future of the Middle East out of concern that the democratic surge could stall in the face of violent repression in Syria, Libya and Iran.

He suggested Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may still play a role in his country’s transition—a disappointment to some activists who have been waiting for Mr. Obama to call for him to step down, as he had with Libya’s Col. Moammar Gadhafi and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

“President Assad now has a choice: he can lead that transition, or get out of the way,” Mr. Obama said in the speech.

The speech had its biggest resonance in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Mr. Obama Friday at the White House.

Mr. Obama entered office pledging to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, and White House officials have voiced frustration with Mr. Netanyahu and his commitment to expanding construction in disputed territories.

Mr. Obama sounded pained in describing the state of the dispute, noting that “the international community is tired of an endless process that never procures an outcome. The dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation.”

For the first time since entering the White House, Mr. Obama said his administration sees the Mideast peace process producing an independent Palestinian state set along Israel’s borders as they were before the 1967 Six Day War. Creating such a state would require Israel to cede control of parts of East Jerusalem and exit settlements in the West Bank, though Mr. Obama acknowledged that some elements of a future Palestinian state’s borders would still be up for discussion.

“While the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear: a viable Palestine, a secure Israel,” Mr. Obama said. “We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”

The comments marked the clearest call by a U.S. president for negotiations on a future Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. The lines were implicitly referred to by President Bill Clinton in “parameters” he set down during 2000 peace talks, and further clarified by President George W. Bush in his “Roadmap” to peace.

Mr. Obama also challenged Mr. Netanyahu’s position that some Israeli troops might remain in the West Bank to protect Israel’s borders. “The full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign, nonmilitarized state,” Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Netanyahu rejected Mr. Obama’s position, saying a retreat to the 1967 borders would leave segments of Israel’s population outside those lines, and “indefensible.” He also said Washington shouldn’t walk back from Mr. Bush’s “assurances” not to force such an agreement upon Israel.

Associated PressTop Israeli military officials in Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War.

Palestinian officials didn’t issue a reaction Thursday. But for some former Palestinian negotiators, U.S. support for 1967 borders was little consolation, saying it meant they have simply regained ground they lost after Mr. Bush left the White House.

Mr. Obama decided to make the public call on borders in part to deflate a Palestinian campaign to win statehood at the United Nations, a senior administration official said. Statehood, the official said, has to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.

Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the only Jewish Republican in Congress, said the path Mr. Obama laid out for Middle East peace “undermines” the U.S. relationship with Israel. “By keeping the burden and thus the spotlight on Israel, the president is only giving the Palestinian Authority more incentive to carry on its unhelpful game of sidestepping negotiations and failing to put an end to terrorism,” Mr. Cantor said in a written response to the address.

The Israeli prime minister next week will address a joint session of Congress and the annual gathering of Washington’s most powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Mr. Obama is scheduled to address AIPAC on Sunday, in what administration officials hope will give him an opportunity to allay the fears of Israel supporters. He is considering a visit to Israel this summer, U.S. officials said.

Mr. Obama made the decision on Tuesday to make the public call on the 1967 borders, a senior administration official said, in part to strengthen the U.S.’s argument against the Palestinian campaign for statehood at the United Nations. Statehood, the official said, has to be worked out between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Many U.S. officials had hoped Mr. Netanyahu would use his trip to Washington to lay out new concessions he would be prepared to make as part of a peace agreement.

But hopes have faded significantly in recent weeks, primarily because of the formation of a unity government between the main Palestinian political factions, including the militant organization Hamas, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization. Mr. Netanyahu has stated that he won’t return to negotiations while Hamas is part of the Palestinian side or before it renounces its use of violence against Israel.

Mr. Obama acknowledged in his speech the Palestinians needed to address this issue. “How can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist?” he said.

Some Arab activists were also expecting more. “He wasn’t strong enough in it and he didn’t say that strong steps would be taken and he didn’t give a timeline to work on a certain plan,” said Amal Sharaf, a founder of Egypt’s 6th of April Youth Movement, which played a major role in organizing protests.

Mr. Obama rattled some Arab allies by strongly criticizing the political repression orchestrated by Bahrain’s ruling Khalifa family, though his statements garnered praise from opposition leaders in Bahrain. “We have insisted publicly and privately that mass arrests and brute force are at odds with the universal rights of Bahrain’s citizens, and will not make legitimate calls for reform go away,” Mr. Obama said.

Bahrain is a close American ally that hosts the Pentagon’s Fifth Fleet. But U.S. officials have been alarmed that security forces there have detained protesters, largely from Bahrain’s majority Shiite population, without due process.

Sunni-dominant Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pressed the White House to be cautious in criticizing Bahrain’s government, arguing that the protesters are receiving significant support from neighboring Iran. But Mr. Obama said Iran’s meddling doesn’t justify the actions of Bahrain’s security forces.

The president also warned Iran that it isn’t immune to the unrest of the Arab Spring. “Let’s remember that the first peaceful protests in the region were in the streets of Tehran, where the government brutalized women and men, and threw innocent people into jail,” he said.

—Charles Levinson
and Matt Bradley
contributed to this article.