Professor Marc Gopin is the Director at the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution (CRDC) with the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. You can follow his work by visiting www.MarcGopin.com. He has focused a lot of his work around interfaith conflict resolution, which is why we asked to speak with him about the controversy over the proposed construction of the Cordoba Mosque in lower Manhattan. Right after we scheduled the interview, news broke that peace talks among Israel, Palestine, and the United States would resume in September. This is an issue that Professor Gopin has been deeply involved with for a very long time now, so we included that in our line of questioning.
Highlight clips with partial transcripts and the full 40-minute interview below the fold...
Speaking before the annual AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington on Wednesday, Barack Obama made a significant break from moderate Israeli MKs and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. At issue: Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem that the opposition Likud refuses to concede to a Palestinian state.
Abbas sees east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, but hardliners have been pressuring Prime Minister Olmert and Secretary Rice for months to take the city limits off the table. Outlining his vision of Middle East policy to the pro-Israel lobby, Obama aligned himself with the more extreme elements (emphasis mine):
The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper - but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.
Abbas reacted with frustration. At its lowest point in months, the energy for an "undivided Jerusalem" may have been renewed by a powerful endorsement.
STATE BLOGS
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