[Whitfield:] Welcome back. As we concentrate on America's appeal abroad, let's look a little bit further into one of the resounding messages that President Obama launched while in Cairo and reiterated once again while in Germany. He talked about Israel stopping settlements in the West Bank.
[Pres. Barack Obama, United States:] It's easy to point fingers. For Palestinians to point to the displacement brought about by Israel's founding and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders as well as beyond. But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth. The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two state where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.
[Whitfield:] Is that achievable? And if so or if not, how difficult might that road be? Our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman reminds us about what life is like in Israeli settlement.
[Ben Wedeman, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] On the outskirts of the Palestinian village of Naalin. [on camera]: This is really the heart of the matter when it comes to the problem in the West Bank. This town, Naalin, is surrounded by Israeli settlement. Every week there is a protest against the settlements and their expansion and the Israelis inevitably use tear gas, rubber bullets and sometimes with fatal consequences. [voice-over]: It's a weekly ritual. Pitting teenage boys against soldiers.
[Whitfield:] So this is just an example that our Ben Wedeman brings us. And again this reminder comes on the heels of President Obama saying, a few different times this week about him trying to discourage Israel from continuing on settlements on the West Bank. But just yesterday our Wolf Blitzer in the "Situation Room" talked with Israel's deputy foreign minister Daniel Ayalon and poses varied questions about stopping settlements and this was the response.
[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn:] In the meantime, these media days and weeks ahead, the settlements are continuing.
[Daniel Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister, Israel:] Well, there is no reason to stop anything which we have been doing so far.
[Whitfield:] So, let's delve into this a little bit further. Is this a realistic approach that the president has, two separate states for Israelis and Palestinians. We're joined once again by Middle East analyst and Sarah Lawrence College Professor Fawaz Gerges and Josh Levs has been also been fielding a lot of questions and comments. Because this is kind of one of those lightning rod topics. And professor, what do you think? Is this realistic? Can we be on the road of two states, prior presidents, American presidents have tried it before. Why might this time be different?
[Gerges:] Well, I think there is no other choice. The only choice and the only credible and the only effective and the only rational choice is a it's a solution that takes into account the aspirations of the Israelis and the Palestinians. What else would you have? Because Israel would not accept a bi-national state. It wants a state whereby the Israelis and the Palestinians live in one state. I think what we need to tell our viewers is that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a mine field. It is a mine field. And every president and every president including President Barack Obama, a brilliant visionary president, knows that he has to navigate this particular conflict very carefully. And I think he did. I think he succeeded tremendously in addressing both with empathy the aspirations of those people, what he did and look at what he did. I mean, he is one of the only American sitting president who talked about the suffering of the Palestinians. The dislocation, the humiliation, the occupation and he said this is intolerable. This is intolerable because you have three million people who basically lived in their occupation at the same time. At the same time, he called on Arabs and Muslims to recognize that Israel is basically a state that was born out of the tragedy, the great tragedy and crime of the holocaust. Israel is here to stay. He called on both people, Arabs and Israelis to recognize not only the legitimate aspirations of one another but the humanity, the humanity of each other. And I believe what he said resonates a great deal, in particular in the larger and the greater Middle East [inaudible].
[Whitfield:] What's interesting here is while he was very careful about fashioning his language and he talked about the bond between the U.S. and Israel as unbreakable. And that was his word. Unbreakable while he spoke in Cairo. There were many Israelis who responded immediately by saying they see President Obama as a threat to Israel. So how can you please both sides and especially on the heels of him meeting with President Netanyahu? And when he talked about that very subject to President Netanyahu in Washington, Netanyahu said, no. Not interested.
[Gerges:] Now, Fredricka, what we need to understand is that Israel has always had a veto, a veto over American foreign policy. And President Barack Obama I would argue is the only president or one of the few presidents who basically is trying to help Israel, basically find a way out of this bad embrace. Because he knows and we all know, and many Israelis know and many Israelis know that the only way out is a solution based on a two-state concept, one Palestinian and one Israeli in the settlement. The reason why President Barack Obama is emphasizing settlement, remember, I mean, the more Israel devours Palestinian land, basically the concept of a two-state solution disappears. In fact, unless settlements are frozen, Israel will find itself. It has no other option but basically to have what we call a bi-national state, integrate.
[Whitfield:] And we are not surprised that this has evoked quite the response from people social networking whether it be via Facebook, e- mails, twitter, et cetera. And Josh Levs has been fielding a number of these comments and questions and what do you have, Josh, for the professor?
[Levs:] Yes, I tell you, we are kind of getting questions about broadening THIS out a little bit. And Fawaz, you just said a moment ago, the only president or one of the few presidents we have a message here on twitter. Trying to drill that down a little more. Let's zoom in for a second. From swiftj it says here "has a speech like this ever been given in the Muslim world by an American president or anyone American?" Fawaz, your perspective here, you follow these things closely. Was this a totally unprecedented speech?
[Gerges:] It really is. I mean, this really is a historic landmark. I have a colleague in Cairo who is very critical of American foreign policy, he said he went to listen to his speech, he was invited. And he said he really wanted he thought that President Barack Obama would reinforce his criticism of American foreign policy. I called him and I said what do you think, Janil. He said this particular president is full of humanity even though he said he is critical of American foreign policy, Barack Obama, he said he spoke power with humility. He was able to connect.
[Levs:] Fawaz, before I lose you, I want to quickly toss one more at you. Really quickly, from Beth Nielsen here who wrote us this, she is saying that he is getting all this criticism for not being specific. Her question here is aren't all the countries supposed to be involved in the decision making. Your perspective doesn't make sense, not to be that specific, until you meet with all these countries and come up with a plan.
[Gerges:] Absolutely. This was not a policy speech. It was s statement of intention. He was trying to change the debate from conflict and war into a partnership. It's the beginning of a long journey and President Barack Obama said he knows how difficult and complex the damages are.
[Levs:] All right. Fawaz, thanks for your views on that.
[Whitfield:] All right. We're are going to talk more with the professor and Josh on policy versus intention, underscoring that very point that you're making and also we're going to talk about how young people around the world have been weighing in on this. They have some very strong thoughts about what they heard whether be out of Cairo or perhaps what they heard in Germany or maybe even France. We're going take another trip to Cairo. And we are going to find out from one young lady who is very involved in blogging what she and her colleagues have been saying.