Best answer: B) Palestinian independence is important for peace in the Middle East.
History/context:
The Arab-Israeli conflict is now about a century old. There had been Jewish immigration into the Palestine region since the end of the 19th century. The movement of Jews back to what they saw as their ancestral territory escalated with the Zionist movement in the early 20th century. After World War I ended in 1918, a mandate system authorized Great Britain to oversee government in the Palestine region, which had formerly been part of the Ottoman Empire. Tensions between Jews and Arabs in the region escalated during that period.
After the Second World War II ended in 1945, the United Nations adopted a plan for the partition of Palestine that would create a portion of that territory as the state of Israel, with the other part as an independent state for Palestinian Arabs. The Arabs in the region and surrounding Arab nations were not in favor of this, because they opposed the creation of a Jewish state in their region. As the British were ending their mandate governance in May, 1948, the Jewish leaders in the land proclaimed their independence as a nation. A war with Arab peoples and nations in the region followed. Israel won that war and established itself as a nation. Over 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes and land and became refugees.
The new state of Israel was granted membership in the UN in 1949. Israel won a series of wars (in 1967, 1973 and beyond) over against Arab states in the region. Palestinians have made efforts against Israeli control, notably with movements called "Intifadas," in 1987 and 2000. They have not been able to achieve nationhood status, however.
President Obama's quoted comments (in the question text) acknowledge the deep problems that have persisted in regard to finding peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as between Israel and neighboring Arab nations in the Middle East. Along with most other international observers, Obama's statement supports what is called the "two state solution" -- with Palestine being granted specific lands and status as a nation, equal with the state of Israel. However, getting the two sides to agree on issues has been an elusive goal. Key issues are things such as territorial boundaries, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, what to do about Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas, water and other resource rights, economic and infrastructure issues, military/security issues, and the status of Jerusalem. Both sides want Jerusalem as their principal city, and there are many of each side of the conflict who want to insist that the <u>whole</u> territory should be theirs, not granting national status to the other side.
