Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed his satisfaction with a speech made by US President Barack Obama before the UN General Assembly, in which he said Israel and the Palestinians should renew negotiations.
"I commend this important speech of Obama's and his call to renew the peace process without preconditions. I commend his unequivocal support of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people," he said.
"I commend this important speech of Obama's and his call to renew the peace process without preconditions. I commend his unequivocal support of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people," he said.
(Haaretz).Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman praised U.S. President Barack Obama's remarks to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
During his first ever speech at the world body's headquarters in New York, Obama called on Wednesday for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks "without preconditions."
"The goal is clear: two states living side by side in peace and security - a Jewish State of Israel, with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, and realizes the potential of the Palestinian people," Obama told the UN.
"Obama is always trying to maintain a balance," Lieberman told Haaretz. "For us, the positive aspect is that he said that Israel is a Jewish state."
"He also spoke very clearly about Iran, and we see his speech in a very positive light," the foreign minister said. "The three-way meeting [between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Obama on Tuesday] had a very positive effect because the main thing is that we showed that we do not intend to compromise on our positions and that we will need to conduct a dialogue without preconditions."
"The president of the United States has the toughest job in the world," Lieberman said. "One can empathize with his position. And he has problems that are far more serious than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ? North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan."
