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Wouldn’t it be nice if this is what Obama actually said? Quotes taken from the Counterpunch article by Uri Avnery
“No nation, great or small, can prosper for long without peace. War is the curse of mankind. It coarsens our spirit, consumes our resources, spreads death and destruction. In our time, with the development of ever more deadly means of mass destruction, war threatens our very existence.
Yet there seems to be among you a curious aversion to peace. Peacemakers are denounced as traitors or enemies. Even I have been termed a “Destroyer of Israel” because of my efforts at the beginning of my first term, to bring about peace between you and your neighbors.
I am told that in your recent election campaign, all parties studiously avoided the word “peace”. That sounds incredible to me. You need peace, perhaps more than any other people on earth.
I am also told that most Israelis, while longing for peace, strongly believe that “Peace is Impossible”. Peace is never impossible, if good men and women earnestly strive for it.
[…]
I did not come here to try and impose a peace plan on you.
Peace should not be imposed. It must flow from the heart. It must be approved by the mind.
Let me share with you, however, a few things that seem to me self-evident:
Peace must be based on what is commonly called the “two-state solution”. Two states for two peoples, for the Israelis and for the Palestinians.
It is not only the best solution – it is the only solution.
Those who bandy about other “solutions” are deluding themselves. There is no other solution.
There must be a Palestinian state, side by side with Israel. Your fathers and mothers were content with nothing less than a state of their own, and the Palestinians will not settle for anything less either. Freedom and independence under their own flag is the right of all human beings. You should be the first to understand that.
The State of Palestine must include all the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Any changes to the borders must be agreed between the two sides, and be of equal extent.
Jerusalem, this wonderful old city where we are meeting now, and which fills me with excitement, must be shared by the two peoples. What is Arab should be the capital of Palestine, what is Jewish should be the capital of Israel, recognized at long last by all.
The security of Israel must be safeguarded and guaranteed by the world, especially by the United States of America. And so should the security of Palestine.
Obviously, the millions of Palestinian refugees cannot return to Israel. Justice cannot be restored by imposing a new injustice on the present inhabitants. But we must make a great international effort to compensate the refugees generously, and at least a symbolic number should be allowed to exercise their Right of Return.
These peace terms have been lying on the table for a long time. The time has come – indeed, the time is long overdue – to turn them into a permanent peace treaty. The other Arab nations, whose commendable peace plan has also been lying on the table for many years, should be welcomed as partners in this effort.”
[…]
Back when the internet was just starting, there were many, how can we put this politely, ‘optimistic’ predictions in the vein of bringing the world together, unbounded communication, openness, a giant leap forward for mankind – blah blah blah.
Unfortunately, what we got was a commercialized, sectarian echo chamber that, more often than not, served to augment the insular tendencies humanity is famous for. Rather than being exposed to ideas from all the cultures with access to the web, we limit our exposure and often work very hard to keep what we watch and read within our small cultural frameworks. Ignorance still rules the day as like minded communities spin their self-referential webs of their preferred reality, creating closed online cultures that desperately maintain the status-quo. It’s a shitty feature of meat-space replicated to “Nth” time here on the web.
Eric Whitacre’s projects reach across these boundaries, across the sectarian divides and foist people out of their enclaves so they can join and share a common goal; the production of beautiful music. I have reservations about some of the technical aspects of what Whitacre is doing with the Virtual Choirs, but I am in full agreement with the spirit of what the VC’s accomplish. Bringing people together to work toward a common goal despite all the cultural baggage and all the prejudice and insular nonsense that routinely bollocks-up human interactions.
The Virtual Choirs hint at what the internet should be for, as opposed what it is at the moment.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
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