World Citizen: The Truth About Obama, Israel and the 1967 Borders

When President Barack Obama took the podium at the State Department to outline Washington's new policy framework for the Middle East several weeks ago, he unleashed a storm of controversy that caught many people by surprise. The speech sought to outline a new American stance toward the unfolding changes in the Arab world. But the controversy centered instead on the president's statement regarding the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

When Obama called for a return to negotiations "based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps," he sparked a furious, if rather unusual dispute. On one side, the president's critics declared that Obama had made a dramatic change in U.S. policy. On the other, his supporters said he had simply restated a longstanding approach to the peace process embraced by a series of U.S. administrations long before Obama came to office. ...