Obama: Israeli PM's speech opening for Mideast

Monday, June 15, 2009 at 10:29 PM Posted by Beijing News


WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Monday welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's endorsement of Palestinian independence as a way to restart peace talks and called on Arab neighbors to join the discussion.

Bending to U.S. pressure in a speech a day earlier, Netanyahu backed down on decades of opposition to Palestinian statehood by endorsing an independent state beside Israel. He invited the Palestinians and others in the Arab world to resume peace talks, but he attached conditions that were immediately derided as too restrictive.

Obama on Monday downplayed the immediate criticism from Arab neighbors as predictable.

"Well, first of all, I think it's important not to immediately assess the situation based on commentary the day after a speech," said Obama, whose aides distributed glowing reaction to his U.S.-Muslim speech the day after he delivered it in Cairo.

"I think any time an Israeli prime minister makes a statement, the immediate reaction tends to be negative on one side. If the other side is making a statement, oftentimes the reaction is negative in Israel," he said.

Netanyahu refused to freeze Israeli settlements in the West Bank, as the U.S. is demanding. He also demanded that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state and Palestinians refugees give up their goal of returning to Israel.

Netanyahu insisted that a Palestinian state be demilitarized, and demanded that Jerusalem remain the capital of Israel.

Obama emphasized points of Netanyahu's speech he found agreeable — specifically the call for two states_ but not the caveats.

"There were a lot of conditions, and obviously working through the conditions on Israel's side for security, as well as the Palestinian side for sovereignty and territorial integrity and the capacity to have a functioning, prosperous state, that's exactly what negotiations are supposed to be about," Obama said.

"But what we're seeing is at least the possibility that we can restart serious talks," he said.

Netanyahu's announcement came a week after Obama addressed the Muslim world and strongly reiterated U.S. backing for independent Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side in peace. Obama's trip to the Middle East sought to repair U.S. relations with Muslim nations that were badly frayed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the invasion of Iraq.

On Monday, Obama repeated his position that the United States will stand behind Israel's defense, but he told both sides' leaders that they face difficult political choices.

"On the Israeli side, that means a cessation of settlements," said Obama, who publicly told Netanyahu the same during an Oval Office meeting earlier.

To the Palestinians, Obama repeated that leaders must end anti-Israeli rhetoric in schools and recognize Israel.

"Those are necessary pillars of any serious agreement that's to be reached," he said.

Obama also said that Arab neighbors must work with the Palestinians to tamp down tensions.

"Israel's security concerns extend beyond simply the Palestinian Territories," he said. "They extend to concerns that they have in a whole host of neighbors where there's perceived — and often real — hostility towards Israel's security."

Obama's remarks came at the end of an Oval Office meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.





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