“Simply put, it is past time to talk about us starting negotiations. It is time to move forward. It is time to show the flexibility and common sense and sense of compromise that’s necessary to achieve our goals.”
“Despite all the obstacles, despite all the history, despite all the mistrust, we have to find a way forward. We have to summon the will to break the deadlock that has trapped generations of Israelis and Palestinians in an endless cycle of conflict and suffering,” Obama declared. “We cannot continue the same pattern of taking tentative steps forward and then stepping back.”
“We have made progress since I took office…but we still have much further to go,” Obama said. “Palestinians have strengthened their efforts on security. They need to do more to stop incitement and to move forward with negotiations…..Israelis have facilitated greater freedom of movement for the Palestinians and have discussed important steps to restrain settlement activity but they need to translate these discussion into real action on this and other issues.”