THAT SPEECH

I regard Obama's speech as pragmatic,  statesmanlike and supportive of  Israel. 

He makes the point that Palestine must be a viable  state and Israel has to be secure and reasonably defensible.

His comments on the 1967 borders simply restate what has essentially been offered to the Palestinians before and has been rejected. Notwithstanding, this is and always will be the starting point for negotiations and should be the end result of negotiations if they ever take place.

Netanyahu's response is for public consumption in his own country but it will be interesting to read how the media looks at it ... and, of course, the usual suspects will ignore the spoilers in the equation - Hamas and Fatah - neither of which want to recognise Israel as a Jewish State or any State at all and therefore do not, at least for the present, seek peace.

Will they even mention the Hamas reaction at all?

And what of the rest of Obama's speech - the part about the so-called "Arab Spring"? Will it stop Assad from butchering his own people in Syria?