PM Netanyahu's Speech to Congress

I just watched Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to a joint session of Congress (5/24/2011) and was surprised that the commentators after the speech said that there was nothing new and that this was a political speech. I think that Netanyahu's speech was pivotal.

Essentially, Netanyahu defined the settlement that Israel would accept and essentially told Obama to not waste time negotiating - here is the settlement and you can take it or leave it. Furthermore, the support that Netanyahu received from the US Senators and Congressman was essentially a message to the president that he, Netanyahu, and not Obama controlled the US Congress on the issue of Israel.

The settlement that Netanyahu presented would never be accepted by the Palestinians. The key points were that Palestinians would only have the right of return to Palestine and not to Israel (essentially conceded previously), that Jerusalem would remain undivided and under the control of Israel, that Palestine would be demilitarized and that Israel would retain a military presence in an Independent Palestine and along the Jordan River.

Netanyahu essentially stated that an independent Palestine would be an occupied territory with borders defined by the Israelis. Bottom line is that this independent Palestine would not be any different from the occupied Palestine that currently exists.