linkBatoul Wehbe
29/05/2009 United States President Barack Obama met Thursday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House, and pressed Israel on establishing a Palestinian state and freezing settlement construction.
Asked about the Israeli position on the two-state solution, Obama said he's confident that, if Israel looks at its long-term interests, it will realize the two-state solution is in the interests of the Israelis as well as the Palestinians. "I'm a strong believer in a two-state solution," Obama told reporters with Abbas seated at his side.
Obama held White House talks with Abbas 10 days after hosting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains at odds with the US over settlements and Palestinian statehood.
Obama made clear that he would continue to push Netanyahu, who has expressed his resistance to call for a total freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank.
Netanyahu has been a longtime skeptic of proposals to create a Palestinian state, and he refused to commit to the concept during his US visit.
"I think that we don't have a moment to lose," Obama said, "but I also don't make decisions based on just the conversation that we had last week because obviously Prime Minister Netanyahu has to work through these issues in his own government, in his own coalition."
The US president declined to specify a time frame for the settlement of conflict, saying he didn't want to set an "artificial time table."
Obama and Abbas met at the White House before the Palestinian Authority leader meets Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and other senior officials.
CONFLICTING DEMANDS
Abbas is working to repackage the 2002 Saudi Arabian plan that calls for Israel to give up land seized in the 1967 Six-Day War in exchange for normalized relations with Arab countries in accordance with UN General Assembly resolution 194. The resolution, issued in 1948, calls for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes and paying compensations for those who wouldn’t wish to return. Israel totally objected this initiative, especially because of the right to return of refugees.
Abbas gave Obama a document that would keep intact that requirement and also offer a way to monitor a required Israeli freeze on all settlement activity, a timetable for Israeli withdrawal and a realization of a two-state solution.
"The main purpose of presenting this document to President Obama is to help him in finding a mechanism to implement the Arab peace initiative," Abbas told the Associated Press.
Asked about his impression of the meeting with Obama, Abbas said: "It was a serious and open meeting and President Obama seems determined on what he has said to us and to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu about the necessity of implementing the road map, and we have agreed to continue our communications."
"I believe that if the Israelis would withdraw from all occupied Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese land, the Arab world will be ready to have normal relationships with the state of Israel," said Abbas.
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