Drawing the lines: Obama, Israel, the Palestinians, 1967 and beyond

Sparked by a recent speech by U.S. President Barack Obama, a diplomatic battle is raging over how the borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state will be shaped, and whether those borders should be based on a controversial line drawn more than 40 years ago in the aftermath of a full-scale regional war.

Adding to the confusion, final borders were never determined after the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli war thatenshrined Israel as an independentnationand left neighbouringJordan in control of the West Bank.

So when Israel capturedthe territoryfrom Jordan in theSix Day War in 1967, the 1949 ceasefire line the so-calledGreen Line then marked the demarcation between Israel and what was later to become the Palestinian-controlled West Bank.

Since then, the reality of daily life on the ground has added to the complexity of the situation.

There are currentlymore than 280,000 Jewish settlersliving in enclaves among more than two million Palestinians in the West Bank a territory that Israel has never annexed but controls militarily and is referred to by some Jewish groups as the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria.

Palestinian officials, along withmany in the international community and some Israeli peace groups, have decried the construction of Jewishsettlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law although Israel disputes this.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Barack Obama declared the United States supports a peace negotiation and thecreation of a Palestinian state that would be based on the demarcation lines that existed before the 1967 war ie. the Green Line but also with "mutually agreed" territorial swaps.

The declaration received immediate backing from the so-called Mideast Quartet of international negotiators the U.S., Russia, the UN and the European Union but infuriated the Israeli government and,in particular, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestinian officialshave said they accept the Obama policy as thebasis for negotiations over the boundaries of a future state, but they have alsoindicatedthey will push unilaterally forrecognition ofstatehoodat the UN as early asSeptember if there is no breakthough in peace talks.

It's upto the following playersinvolved inthe moribundpeace process to agree to sit down at the negotiating table before then. Their public stances on the borders issue, and whether they're willing to show any movement,will likely determine whether that happens.

The players

Barack Obama

In the early days of his presidency, Obama attempted tobring the Israelis and Palestinians back to the tablewith the stated goal ofreachinga peace deal by September 2011.

Inan attempttostave off a Septembershowdown at the UN, however, he applied pressure on Israelearlier this month by stating publiclythat the U.S.positionis thatfuture borderswould bebased on thepre-1967 demarcation lines and adjusted throughland swaps a principle that could allow for Israel tomaintain certainsettlement blocs within its borders, as well as retainother territoryfor security purposes. Provided it was willing to give up something in exchange.

Obamahas alsosaid in recent weeks that no vote at the UN would ever create a Palestinian state, a strongindication that he will use Washington'sSecurity Council veto to thwart sucha move.

The president voiced hope that both sideswould be able totackle the borderissuefirstbeforemoving onto resolve what he called themore "emotional" issues of peace negotiations the status of Jerusalem and the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees who lostproperty during the formation of Israel in 1948.

Obama defended his policy against criticism from Israel and at home, insistingtheU.S. was notdictating to either party thatthe final bordersmirrorthe pre-1967 lines.

"By definition it means that the parties themselves Israelis and Palestinians will negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967," the president told a pro-Israeli lobby group's convention on May 29.

Benjamin Netanyahu

U.S.-educated, Netanyahureturnedfor a second term as prime minister inMarch 2009by forming a coalition government with disparate parties, despite his Likud party winning fewer seats than the centrist Kadima party.

Viewed as a hawk on Israeli-Palestinian relations, Netanyahu stunned many in June 2009 by saying for the first time that he supports the creation of a Palestinian state. But only if Israel received prior international assurances that the new nation would have no army and only if Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

However, despite strong urging by Washington and many prominent European leaders,Netanyahu refused to extend a moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank or Jewish neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem, the long-time Palestinian neighbourhood.

Thatprompted the Palestinians to walk away from talkslate last year.

In recent weeks, Netanyahu has hit out at Obama's borders policy,calling a return to the pre-1967 lines "indefensible" and insistinganyterritorial exchangemust take into account Israel's needsto defenditself against future aggression; the Green Line boundary, for example, comes within 15 kilometres of certain Israeli cities.

He also cited"demographic changes" in the West Bank, a reference to the settlements.

In a speech last week to the U.S. Congress, Netanyahu urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to "tear up" his recent reconciliation agreement with arch-rival Hamas.

Netanyahu said that the militant Hamas'srefusal to renounce its charter's calls for Israel's destruction shows it is "no partner for peace."

Mahmoud Abbas

The West Bank-basedpresident of the Palestinian Authorityhas rejected Israel's latest vision of a Mideast peace agreement, saying he will unilaterally seek recognition of an independent state at the UN if there is no progress in negotiations by September.

Abbas, speaking Wednesday in Ramallah, said Netanyahu's speech a day earlier to the U.S. Congress "contained nothing we can build on."

"Our first choice is negotiations, but if there is no progress before September we will go to the United Nations," Abbas was quoted as saying last week to a meeting of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Abbas has brushed off international criticism ofthis month's reconciliation deal with Hamas, which seized control of the coastal territory of Gaza from Abbas's Fatah faction in 2007 and fought an intenseconflict with Israel in the coastal territory in January 2009.

Instead, Abbasused the occasion to deliver a scathing attack on Israel and say "it is no longer possible for us to accept the [Israeli] occupation of Palestinian land."

This newest deal between Fatah and Hamas makes no mention of relations with Israel the issue that led to the collapse of the previous unity government involving the two rivals.

Abbas favours a negotiated peace with Israel, while Hamas has so far refusedto formally accept Israel's existence. More recently, Hamas has been party toan informal ceasefire with Israel since the January 2009 conflict, but it has a long history of launching suicide and rocket attacks against Israelis.

Egypt

Another player in this drama isEgypt, which neighbours the Gaza Strip and so controls the territory's main gateway to the outside world. Gaza is a Hamas stronghold and Egypt has long been pressured by the West to help control the flow of arms into the territory.

Over the weekend, eight days after the Obama speech, Egypt announced it wouldease restrictions on Palestinians who wish to enter the country through the Rafah border crossing.However, theborder will still be closed to trade.

Under the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt had opened the border crossing only sporadically, creating a massive backlog and preventing the vast majority of Gaza's 1.5 million people from being able to travel abroad.

But the military council currently running Egyptuntil parliamentary and presidential electionshas of lateshown more interest in the Palestinian situation.

In recent months, Israelhas also easedits four-year-old blockade ofthe Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, whichwasaimed at isolating the militant group and preventing weapons from being smuggled into the territory for use against Israelis.