Obama Urges Progress and Flexibility in Mideast Talks

Christi Parsons (Los Angeles Times)

September 22, 2009

"The U.S. is committed to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East ... It is past time to talk about starting negotiations. It is time to move forward."

Urging that Middle East peace talks must move beyond a familiar pattern of taking “tentative steps forward and then stepping back,” President Obama entered a meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders this afternoon with a series of handshakes and a call for “flexibility.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas clasped one another’s hands for a lengthy handshake, as television cameras captured the first few moments of their three-way meeting with Obama.

The parties “cannot continue the same pattern,” Obama said of inching forward toward peace and then sliding back. Access the full article>>

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Determined to Reach a Common Objective

“We knew at the outset that the task would be difficult. We acknowledged that publicly and privately. We knew this would be a road with many bumps— and there have been many bumps—and that continues to this day. But we are not deterred. We are, to the contrary, determined more than ever to proceed to realize the common objective, which we all share, of a Middle East that is at peace with security and prosperity for the people of Israel, for Palestinians, and for all the people in the region. We will continue our efforts in that regard, undeterred and undaunted by the difficulties, the complexities or the bumps in the road.”—George Mitchell, special envoy for Middle East peace, remarks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, September 29, 2010

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