U.S. President Barack Obama announced Wednesday afternoon he is optimistic his team would succeed in jumpstarting direct talks aimed at ending Israel’s “occupation” and leading to formation of a new Palestinian Authority country.
The talks, scheduled to begin Thursday, have already spawned two terrorist attacks this week alone. Two days ago, a Hamas terrorist cell ambushed and murdered two Jewish men and two Jewish women near Kiryat Arba, one of whom was nine months pregnant. Last night (Wednesday) another Jewish couple was wounded in a separate attack on the same road, near the Rimonim junction north of Jerusalem. Hamas also claimed responsibility for the second attack as well, along with a renegade Fatah faction, the Al-Namir group that said it was part of the Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades terrorist group.
Speaking to reporters prior to a working dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair, Obama acknowledged the task would not be easy.
“After all, there’s a reason that the two-state solution has eluded previous generations,” he said.
Nevertheless, Obama remains convinced that his administration will be able to announce a final status agreement between Israel and the PA within a year.
“These will be direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. These negotiations are intended to resolve all final status issues," Obama stated firmly. "The goal is a settlement negotiated between the parties, that ends the occupation which began in 1967 and results in the emergence of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with a Jewish state of Israel and its other neighbors. That’s the vision we are pursuing.”
Obama added that each side has “legitimate and enduring interests,” and noted that “years of mistrust will not disappear overnight.” However, he maintained, the status quo is unsustainable "for Israelis, for Palestinians, for the region and for the world. It is in the national interests of all involved, including the United States that this conflict be brought to a peaceful conclusion.
“Among the Israeli and Palestinian publics there is wide support for a two-state solution,” he said, “the broad outlines of which are well known to both peoples. And even in the midst of discord, ordinary Israelis and Palestinians… find ways to work together every day. Their heroic efforts at the grassroots show that cooperation and progress is possible and should inspire us all."
In addition, Obama said, "Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas are two leaders who I believe want peace. Both sides have indicated that these negotiations can be completed within one year. And as I told both of them, this moment of opportunity may not soon come again – they cannot afford to let it slip away.”
But although the United States can provide support for the process, Obama warned, ultimately the task of creating a permanent peace falls upon the two parties – and the other leaders in the region.
“A lot of times I hear from those who insist that this is a top priority and yet do very little to actually support efforts that could bring about a Palestinian state,” Obama said. “What the rest of us can do, including the United States, is to support those conversations, support those talks, support those efforts – not try to undermine them.
"So the hard work is only beginning. Neither success nor failure is inevitable. But this much we know: If we do not make the attempt, then failure is guaranteed… If all sides persevere, in good faith and with a sense of purpose and possibility, we can build a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”
