US President Barack Obama held his first summit with his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres on Tuesday, as the US urged Israel to accept a two-state solution amid a new US push for Middle East peace.
Obama, who has made the Middle East one of the top priorities of his administration, has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to Washington for talks in the coming weeks.
And in some of the most forceful language yet by the new administration, Vice President Joe Biden laid out on Tuesday what Washington expected from its partners in the search for an elusive peace deal.
“Israel’s security is non-negotiable. Period,” Biden told the annual conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, which calls itself the most influential foreign policy lobby in Washington.
“But Israel has to work toward a two-state solution,” Biden told the 6,500 delegates.
“You’re not going to like my saying this but [do] not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement,” Biden told the audience, which nonetheless applauded him.
The US vice president also urged Arab states to begin moving toward ending Israel’s isolation.
“Now is the time for Arab states to make meaningful gestures to show the Israeli leadership and the people the promise of ending Israel’s isolation in the region is real and genuine,” Biden said.
Tuesday’s White House talks were the first summit between the close allies since Benjamin Netanyahu was elected Israel’s prime minister and Obama took over in January as US president.
Netanyahu has so far refused to publicly endorse the creation of a Palestinian state and has insisted on focusing efforts on strengthening the West Bank economy before engaging in negotiations on a final status agreement.
Peres said after the talks that Netanyahu had signed up to the commitments of the US-backed “road-map” when asked by reporters about the new Israeli administration’s failure to so far endorse a two-state solution.
“Mr Netanyahu said he will abide by the commitments of the previous government,” Peres said after the closed-door meeting.
“The previous government accepted the road map — in the road map you will find the attitude to the two state solution,” he said.
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