Special Relationship

Obama Asks Cameron to Back Israel Plan

Wants Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders.

After raising the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech on the Middle East this week, President Obama is appealing to the U.S.'s closest ally for backup. Obama plans to ask British Prime Minister David Cameron to join with the administration's insistence on a Palestinian state in the Middle East as a foundation of a new peace process. Obama says a Palestinian state should be based on pre-1967 borders. Although that plan is vehemently opposed by Netanyahu and others on the Israeli right, Obama already has the political backing of the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia. The aim of this plan is largely to prevent the Palestinian leadership from seeking the U.N.’s symbolic backing for an independent state in September.