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18 May 2009
Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Discuss Peace Process

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

 •  Transcript of Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu

Washington — President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons program and strengthening the U.S.-Israeli relationship in their first meeting as heads of state.

Both Obama and Netanyahu acknowledged that for peace to be achieved, peace talks must resume.

“We have seen progress stalled on this front, and I suggested to the prime minister that he has an historic opportunity to get a serious movement on this issue during his tenure,” Obama said at a brief press conference in the Oval Office of the White House May 18. “That means that all the parties involved have to take seriously obligations that they previously agreed to.”

Obama said that he and Netanyahu discussed at length the need to restart negotiations and that it is in everyone’s interests to achieve a lasting two-state solution.

“I think that there is no reason why we should not seize this opportunity and this moment,” the president said.

The meeting between the two leaders went considerably beyond the scheduled time that also included a private luncheon.

Netanyahu said he wants “to start peace negotiations with the Palestinians immediately. I would like to broaden the circle of peace to include others in the Arab world. It’s a distant vision, but one that we shouldn’t let go.”

But Netanyahu added that to secure a lasting peace, he believes the Palestinians will have to recognize Israel’s permanent legitimacy. Within that context, Netanyahu said, “I think we can envision an arrangement where Palestinians and Israelis live side by side in dignity and security and in peace.”

IRAN’S WEAPONS PROGRAM

Both Obama and Netanyahu said an Iran nuclear weapon would pose not only an immediate threat to Israel and the United States, but also would be, in Obama’s words, “profoundly destabilizing” and “could trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.”

“We are engaged in a process to reach out to Iran and persuade them that it is not in their interest to pursue a nuclear weapon and that they should change course,” Obama said. Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted the explanation by Iranian officials that they are pursuing a peaceful, civilian nuclear development program.

Obama said he assured Netanyahu that the United States was not foreclosing a range of options for Iran, including stronger international sanctions.

“The worst danger we face is that Iran would develop nuclear military capabilities,” Netanyahu said. “Iran openly calls for our destruction, which is unacceptable from any standard.”

Obama said that from the outset of his administration, Israel’s security has been of paramount importance to the United States and that it remains essential to U.S. national security interests to assure Israel’s security as an independent state.

Obama is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on May 26 and with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas two days later. Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians had resumed after the 2007 Annapolis Conference on Middle East peace, but sputtered to a halt last year.

The president made the Israeli-Palestinian peace process a high priority for his administration and, immediately after taking office in January, named former U.S. Senator George Mitchell as the U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace.

Netanyahu met May 11 in private meetings with the Egyptian president at Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, where Mubarak encouraged Netanyahu to make progress on the peace talks, including Palestinian statehood. And on May 14 Netanyahu met with Jordanian King Abdullah II, who also urged him to commit to a two-state solution with the Palestinians as the only way to achieve a lasting Middle East peace. King Abdullah was in Washington April 21 in a prelude to these scheduled meetings and urged Obama to push for Palestinian statehood.

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