Obama: Historic opportunity for Palestinian state
Benjamin Netanyahu fails to explicitly endorse Palestinian state after talks with Barack Obama
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Tuesday, 19, May 2009 11:35
Barack Obama has urged the Israeli prime minister to seize the "historic opportunity" before him and accept a two-state solution to the Middle East peace process.
Benjamin Netanyahu, in Washington for talks with the United States president, is yet to explicitly confirm backing for an independent Palestinian state.
After what Mr Obama described as an "extraordinarily productive series of conservations", Mr Netanyahu, in his second stint as Israeli prime minister, against failed to talk in such terms.
He said he could, however "envision an arrangement where Palestinians and Israelis live side by side in dignity, in security and in peace", backing negotiations with the Palestinians and the wider Arab world.
Mr Obama, who will unveil his Middle East policy in a highly-anticipated speech in Cairo, Egypt, on June 4th, is a firm exponent of the two-state solution.
"I have said before and I will repeat again that it is I believe in the interest not only of the Palestinians, but also the Israelis and the United States and the international community to achieve a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians are living side by side in peace and security," he said at the White House yesterday.
Opinion polls in Israel have recently shown the issue of nuclear weapons and Iran is regarded as more important than the issue of Palestinian statehood, and those views were reflected in talks between Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu.
The Israeli prime minister said: "The worst danger we face is that Iran would develop nuclear military capabilities: Iran openly calls for our destruction, which is unacceptable by any standard; it threatens the moderate Arab regimes in the Middle East; it threatens US interests worldwide.
"But if Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons, it could give a nuclear umbrella to terrorists, or worse, it could actually give terrorists nuclear weapons. And that would put us all in great peril."