They agreed that Obama’s starting point — borders for
Palestine, security for Israel — provides “a foundation for Israelis and
Palestinians to reach a final resolution of the conflict through serious and
substantive negotiations and mutual agreement on all core issues.” The UN, EU,
and Russia, along with the United States, comprise the Quartet of international
mediators which has been trying for nearly a decade to promote a Mideast peace
settlement.
The Quartet members said in a statement issued Friday that
they are “in full agreement about the urgent need to resolve the conflict
between Israel and the Palestinians.” “The Quartet reiterates its strong appeal
to the parties to overcome the current obstacles and resume direct negotiations
and mutual agreement on all core issues,” the statement said.
The US stance was not a major policy change, since the
United States — along with the international community and even past Israeli
governments — previously endorsed an agreement building on the 1967 lines.
As for security, Obama said, “Israel must be able to defend
itself by itself against any threat” so there must be provisions to prevent
terrorism, stop infiltration of weapons, and provide effective border security.
He also said Israeli military forces must make a “full and phased withdrawal”
coordinated with the Palestinians’ assumption of “security responsibility in a
sovereign, non-militarized state.” Britain, France and Germany had been seeking
a Quartet meeting in April to endorse the outlines of a peace settlement they
proposed — which also included starting negotiations based on the pre-1967 war
lines. But the US blocked the meeting, saying it wasn’t the right time and the
Obama administration didn’t think a Quartet meeting would produce anything that
would help restart the talks.
Egypt’s UN Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said Obama’s support
for the pre-1967 war borders will help the Palestinians win UN recognition of a
Palestinian state.
He linked Obama’s backing for the borders to the Palestinian
campaign to get two-thirds of the UN General Assembly - at least 128 of its 192
member states - to recognize Palestine as a state by September. Palestine is
already recognized by 112 countries and he predicted the Palestinians would get
support from at least 130 nations in the next few months.
But for a newly created Palestine to become a member of the
United Nations, Abdelaziz said, it must get support from the Security Council,
where the United States, Israel’s closest ally, has veto power.
“If they put a resolution in the General Assembly requesting
the Security Council to recognize the state of Palestine and this resolution
passes ... with 170 or 180 votes, I’m sure that this is going to put a lot of
moral pressure on the Security Council, and particularly on the United States,
in order not to veto,” Abdelaziz told a group of reporters on Thursday.
He said he didn’t know whether the Palestinians will push
for a resolution in September because Palestinian leaders are still discussing
what to do.
In his speech Thursday, Obama rejected efforts by the
Palestinians to unilaterally take their bid for statehood to the UN, saying,
“Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won’t
create an independent state.”
