WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has ratcheted up pressure on Israel to halt all settlement activity and has sought to reassure visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of US support for Palestinian statehood.
In a White House meeting with Abbas late on Thursday, Obama said his administration would work aggressively to “jump-start” a stalled peace process.
He said both sides must meet their past obligations in order to achieve progress toward a two-state solution. For the Palestinians, that includes improving the security situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For Israel, “those obligations include stopping settlements,” Obama said.
Abbas said that the Palestinian Authority is “fully committed to all of our obligations” under the 2003 road map, which set out a path for the two sides to reach a peace deal.
Obama said he had been “very clear about the need to stop settlements” when Netanyahu held talks in Washington earlier this month.
Obama’s meetings with Abbas and Netanyahu were the first since he took office in January.
“Time is of the essence,” Abbas said. “We should capitalize on every minute, every hour to move the peace process forward.” Obama praised Abbas for refusing to agree to a unity government unless Hamas recognizes Israel and past agreements in the long-running peace talks.
Obama said he would not put an “artificial timetable” on achieving peace in the region but was “confident” that the Israeli government would soon recognize the importance of the creation of a Palestinian state. “I’m confident that if Israel looks ... at its long-term strategic interests, then it will recognize that a two-state solution is in the Israeli interest as well as the Palestinians,” Obama said. “We can’t continue the drift ... We need to get this thing back on track,” Obama told reporters with Abbas. “I do share President Abbas’ feelings and believe many Israelis share this view that time is of the essence. I will do everything I can ... to make sure that we jump-start this process and get it moving.
Abbas presented the US president with a document outlining ideas about how to take the peace process forward. “The document does not veer from the road map and the Arab peace initiative,” Abbas said. “It contains ideas to introduce implementation mechanisms for these two plans.” A top Abbas aide said Obama had promised to study the text.
Asked by a reporter if he would strong-arm Israel if it did not back down in its refusal to support a Palestinian state, Obama said: “I think it’s important not to assume the worst, but to assume the best.”
Meanwhile, the Arab League’s secretary-general said yesterday it would become impossible to establish a Palestinian state unless Israel halts settlement construction in the West Bank immediately. “If they continue this policy of changing the demographic composition ... of the territories, it will be practically impossible to establish a Palestinian state — a viable Palestinian state,” Moussa said. “This is the point that makes or breaks.”
Hamas yesterday slammed Abbas’ talks with Obama as a disappointment for Palestinian national hopes.
“The meeting did not present any news. It was completely disappointing for the hopes of the Palestinian people,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. “Obama’s words are not enough and are worthless ...The meeting did not put any pressure on Israel to end its siege (on Gaza) and stop its settlement activities” in the occupied West Bank, Barhoum said.
