US President Barack Obama, on a historic trip to the West Bank, on Thursday told Israel that its settlement activities were “not constructive” for peace in the region, and pledged his commitment to a two-state solution as Palestinians “deserve a state of their own”.
“Palestinians deserve a state of their own. The US is deeply committed to seeing... An independent, sovereign state of Palestine,” Obama said in Ramallah after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
“I spoke to President Abbas. I heard him speak of the obstacles, including an ongoing settlement construction policy. I know that the Palestinians are frustrated,” he said.
When asked on the possibility of resuming peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Obama criticised settlement construction saying,
“I told (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu that it has been US policy not to consider settlement activity to be constructive, appropriate or advance the cause of peace.”
“If the expectation is that we can only have direct negotiations when everything is settled ahead of time, then there is no point for negotiations, so I think it is important to work through this process even if there are irritants on both sides,” Obama said.
“My argument is that even though both sides may have areas of strong disagreement, maybe engaging in activities that the other side considers to be a breach of good faith, we have to push through those things to try to get to an agreement.” PTI