The BI-ME eNewsletter
9th February, 2010, 22:46
Obama sees peace progress this year
Source: BI-ME and Reuters , Author: BI-ME staff
Posted: Sat June 6, 2009 2:16 pm
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INTERNATIONAL. US President Barack Obama yesterday expressed hope of making serious progress in Middle East peacemaking this year and said Israelis and Palestinians had to “get serious” and make tough compromises.
On a visit to Germany, Obama repeated his call for Israel to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank, but he also pushed the Palestinians to improve security and pressed Arab states to match any Israeli peace steps with confidence-building gestures.
“The Palestinians have to get serious about creating the security environment that is required for Israel to feel confident. Israelis are going to have to take some difficult steps,” he said.
Obama, who sees Israeli-Palestinian progress as crucial to repairing the US image in the Muslim world, was speaking a day after delivering a speech in Cairo in which he offered Muslims a “new beginning” with the US.
“I am confident that if we stick with it ... we can make some serious progress this year,” Obama said of the peace process at a news conference in Dresden with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“The moment is now for us to act on what we all know to be the truth, which is that each side is going to have to make some difficult compromises.”
After Dresden, Obama toured the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp, paying homage to the victims of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews died.
The visit will send a signal to Jerusalem that while he did not visit Israel on his maiden trip to the Middle East, its security is still central to US foreign policy.
Obama said he was concerned his recent comments on the need for Israel to accept a Palestinian state were getting a disproportionate amount of attention. Palestinians needed to take steps, too, he said.
“We have still not seen a firm commitment from the Palestinian Authority that they can control some of the border areas that Israel is going to be concerned about if there was going to be a two-state solution,” he said.
If this was not solved, the Israelis would have “trouble moving forward”, Obama said.
He called on Arab states to “make some hard choices” by opening up trade and offering diplomatic exchanges with Israel if it made “tough commitments.” Until now, Arab states have said Israel must fulfil its obligations under the 2003 Road Map peace plan before they will reciprocate.
On a visit to Germany, Obama repeated his call for Israel to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank, but he also pushed the Palestinians to improve security and pressed Arab states to match any Israeli peace steps with confidence-building gestures.
“The Palestinians have to get serious about creating the security environment that is required for Israel to feel confident. Israelis are going to have to take some difficult steps,” he said.
Obama, who sees Israeli-Palestinian progress as crucial to repairing the US image in the Muslim world, was speaking a day after delivering a speech in Cairo in which he offered Muslims a “new beginning” with the US.
“I am confident that if we stick with it ... we can make some serious progress this year,” Obama said of the peace process at a news conference in Dresden with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“The moment is now for us to act on what we all know to be the truth, which is that each side is going to have to make some difficult compromises.”
After Dresden, Obama toured the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp, paying homage to the victims of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews died.
The visit will send a signal to Jerusalem that while he did not visit Israel on his maiden trip to the Middle East, its security is still central to US foreign policy.
Obama said he was concerned his recent comments on the need for Israel to accept a Palestinian state were getting a disproportionate amount of attention. Palestinians needed to take steps, too, he said.
“We have still not seen a firm commitment from the Palestinian Authority that they can control some of the border areas that Israel is going to be concerned about if there was going to be a two-state solution,” he said.
If this was not solved, the Israelis would have “trouble moving forward”, Obama said.
He called on Arab states to “make some hard choices” by opening up trade and offering diplomatic exchanges with Israel if it made “tough commitments.” Until now, Arab states have said Israel must fulfil its obligations under the 2003 Road Map peace plan before they will reciprocate.
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RedditMIDDLE EAST BUSINESS COMMENT & ANALYSIS
date:Posted: February 9, 2010
UAE. Location and quality are driving apartment prices; while average prices decreased, select communities, including Palm Jumeirah and Downtown Burj Dubai, experienced slight increases according to Landmark Advisory's latest quarterly report.
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UAE. Location and quality are driving apartment prices; while average prices decreased, select communities, including Palm Jumeirah and Downtown Burj Dubai, experienced slight increases according to Landmark Advisory's latest quarterly report.
