President Obama: I first of all want to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for making
this visit. I think we had a extraordinarily productive series of
conversations, not only between the two of us but also at the staff and
agency levels.
Obviously this reflects the extraordinary relationship, the special
relationship between the United States and Israel. It is a stalwart
ally of the United States. We have historical ties, emotional ties. As
the only true democracy of the Middle East it is a source of admiration
and inspiration for the American people.
I have said from the outset that when it comes to my policies towards
Israel and the Middle East that Israel’s security is paramount, and I
repeated that to Prime Minister Netanyahu. It is in U.S. national
security interests to assure that Israel’s security as an independent
Jewish state is maintained.
One of the areas that we discussed is the deepening concern
around the potential pursuit
of a nuclear weapon by Iran. It’s something the Prime Minister has been
very vocal in his concerns about, but is a concern that is shared by his
countrymen and women across the political spectrum.
I indicated to him the view of our administration, that Iran is a
country of extraordinary history and extraordinary potential, that we
want them to be a full-fledged member of the international community and
be in a position to provide opportunities and prosperity for their
people, but that the way to achieve those goals is not through the
pursuit of a nuclear weapon. And I indicated to Prime Minister
Netanyahu in private what I have said publicly, which is that Iran
obtaining a nuclear weapon would not only be a threat to Israel and a
threat to the United States, but would be profoundly destabilizing in
the international community as a whole and could set off a nuclear arms
race in the Middle East that would be extraordinarily dangerous for all
concerned, including for Iran.
We are engaged in a process to reach out to Iran and persuade them that
it is not in their interest to pursue a nuclear weapon and that they
should change course. But I assured the Prime Minister that we are not
foreclosing a range of steps, including much stronger international
sanctions, in assuring that Iran understands that we are serious. And
obviously the Prime Minister emphasized his seriousness around this
issue as well -- I’ll allow him to speak for himself on that subject.
We also had an extensive discussion about the possibilities of
restarting serious negotiations on the issue of Israel and the
Palestinians. I have said before and I will repeat again that it is I
believe in the interest not only of the Palestinians, but also the
Israelis and the United States and the international community to
achieve a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians are
living side by side in peace and security.
We have seen progress stalled on this front, and I suggested to the
Prime Minister that he has an historic opportunity to get a serious
movement on this issue during his tenure. That means that all the
parties involved have to take seriously obligations that they’ve
previously agreed to. Those obligations were outlined in the road map;
they were discussed extensively in Annapolis. And I think that we can
-- there is no reason why we should not seize this opportunity and this
moment for all the parties concerned to take seriously those obligations
and to move forward in a way that assures Israel’s security, that stops
the terrorist attacks that have been such a source of pain and hardship,
that we can stop rocket attacks on Israel; but that also allow
Palestinians to govern themselves as an independent state, that allows
economic development to take place, that allows them to make serious
progress in meeting the aspirations of their people.
And I am confident that in the days, weeks and months to come we are
going to be able to make progress on that issue.
So let me just summarize by saying that I think Prime Minister Netanyahu
has the benefit of having served as Prime Minister previously. He has
both youth and wisdom --
Prime Minister Netanyahu: I’ll dispute youth, but --
President Obama: -- and I think is in a position to achieve the
security objectives of Israel, but also bring about historic peace. And
I’m confident that he’s going to seize this moment. And the United
States is going to do everything we can to be constructive, effective
partners in this process.
PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: President Obama, thank you. Thank you for
your friendship to Israel and your friendship to me. You’re a great
leader -- a great leader of the United States, a great leader of the
world, a great friend of Israel, and someone who is acutely cognizant of
our security concerns. And the entire people of Israel appreciate it,
and I speak on their behalf.
We met before, but this is the first time that we’re meeting as
President and Prime Minister. So I was particularly pleased at your
reaffirmation of the special relationship between Israel and the United
States. We share the same goals and we face the same threats. The
common goal is peace. Everybody in Israel, as in the United States,
wants peace. The common threat we face are terrorist regimes and
organizations that seek to undermine the peace and endanger both our
peoples.
In this context, the worst danger we face is that Iran would develop
nuclear military capabilities. Iran openly calls for our destruction,
which is unacceptable by any standard. It threatens the moderate Arab
regimes in the Middle East. It threatens U.S. interests worldwide. But
if Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons, it could give a nuclear
umbrella to terrorists, or worse, it could actually give terrorists
nuclear weapons. And that would put us all in great peril.
So in that context, I very much appreciate, Mr. President, your firm
commitment to ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear military
capability, and also your statement that you’re leaving all options on
the table.
I share with you very much the desire to move the peace process
forward. And I want to start peace negotiations with the Palestinians
immediately. I would like to broaden the circle of peace to include
others in the Arab world, if we could, Mr. President, so -- this
(inaudible) that one shouldn’t let go, maybe peace with the entire Arab
world.
I want to make it clear that we don’t want to govern the Palestinians.
We want to live in peace with them. We want them to govern themselves,
absent a handful of powers that could endanger the state of Israel. And
for this there has to be a clear goal. The goal has to be an end to
conflict. There will have to be compromises by Israelis and
Palestinians alike. We’re ready to do our share. We hope the
Palestinians will do their share, as well. If we resume negotiations,
as we plan to do, then I think that the Palestinians will have to
recognize Israel as a Jewish state; will have to also enable Israel to
have the means to defend itself. And if those conditions are met,
Israel’s security conditions are met, and there’s recognition of
Israel’s legitimacy, its permanent legitimacy, then I think we can
envision an arrangement where Palestinians and Israelis live side by
side in dignity, in security, and in peace.
And I look forward, Mr. President, to working with you, a true friend of
Israel, to the achievement of our common goals, which are security,
prosperity, and above all, peace.
President Obama: Thank you. We’re going to take a couple of
questions. We’re going to start with Steve.
Question: Mr. President, you spoke at length, as did the Prime Minister,
about Iran’s nuclear program. Your program of engagement, policy of
engagement, how long is that going to last? Is there a deadline?
President Obama: You know, I don’t want to set an artificial deadline.
I think it’s important to recognize that Iran is in the midst of its own
elections. As I think all of you, since you’re all political reporters,
are familiar with, election time is not always the best time to get
business done.
Their elections will be completed in June, and we are hopeful that, at
that point, there is going to be a serious process of engagement, first
through the P5-plus-one process that’s already in place, potentially
through additional direct talks between the United States and Iran.
I want to reemphasize what I said earlier, that I believe it is not only
in the interest of the international community that Iran not develop
nuclear weapons, I firmly believe it is in Iran’s interest not to
develop nuclear weapons, because it would trigger a nuclear arms race in
the Middle East and be profoundly destabilizing in all sorts of ways.
Iran can achieve its interests of security and international respect and
prosperity for its people through other means, and I am prepared to make
what I believe will be a persuasive argument, that there should be a
different course to be taken.
The one thing we’re also aware of is the fact that the history, of
least, of negotiation with Iran is that there is a lot of talk but not
always action and follow-through. And that’s why it is important for
us, I think, without having set an artificial deadline, to be mindful of
the fact that we’re not going to have talks forever. We’re not going to
create a situation in which talks become an excuse for inaction while
Iran proceeds with developing a nuclear -- and deploying a nuclear
weapon. That’s something, obviously, Israel is concerned about, but
it’s also an issue of concern for the United States and for the
international community as a whole.
My expectation would be that if we can begin discussions soon, shortly
after the Iranian elections, we should have a fairly good sense by the
end of the year as to whether they are moving in the right direction and
whether the parties involved are making progress and that there’s a good
faith effort to resolve differences. That doesn’t mean every issue
would be resolved by that point, but it does mean that we’ll probably be
able to gauge and do a reassessment by the end of the year of this
approach.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President. Aren’t you concerned that your
outstretched hand has been interpreted by extremists, especially Ahmadinejad, Nasrallah, Meshal, as weakness? And since my colleague
already asked about the deadline, if engagement fails, what then, Mr.
President?
President Obama: Well, it’s not clear to me why my outstretched hand
would be interpreted as weakness.
Question: Qatar, an example.
President Obama: I’m sorry?
Question: The example of Qatar. They would have preferred to be on your side
and then moved to the extremists, to Iran.
President Obama: Oh, I think -- yes, I’m not sure about that
interpretation. Look, we’ve been in office a little over a hundred days
now -- close to four months. We have put forward a clear principle that
where we can resolve issues through negotiations and diplomacy, we
should. We didn’t expect -- and I don’t think anybody in the
international community or anybody in the Middle East, for that matter
-- would expect that 30 years of antagonism and suspicion between Iran
and the United States would be resolved in four months. So we think
it’s very important for us to give this a chance.
Now, understand that part of the reason that it’s so important for us to
take a diplomatic approach is that the approach that we’ve been taking,
which is no diplomacy, obviously has not worked. Nobody disagrees with
that. Hamas and Hezbollah have gotten stronger. Iran has been pursuing
its nuclear capabilities undiminished. And so not talking -- that
clearly hasn’t worked. That’s what’s been tried. And so what we’re
going to do is try something new, which is actually engaging and
reaching out to the Iranians.
The important thing is to make sure that there is a clear timetable of
-- at which point we say these talks don’t seem to be making any serious
progress. It hasn’t been tried before so we don’t want to prejudge
that, but as I said, by the end of the year I think we should have some
sense as to whether or not these discussions are starting to yield
significant benefits, whether we’re starting to see serious movement on
the part of the Iranians.
If that hasn’t taken place, then I think the international community
will see that it’s not the United States or Israel or other countries
that are seeking to isolate or victimize Iran; rather, it is Iran itself
which is isolating itself by willing to -- being unwilling to engage in
serious discussions about how they can preserve their security without
threatening other people’s security -- which ultimately is what we want
to achieve.
We want to achieve a situation where all countries in the region can
pursue economic development and commercial ties and trade and do so
without the threat that their populations are going to be subject to
bombs and destruction.
That’s what I think the Prime Minister is interested in, that’s what I’m
interested in, and I hope that ends up being what the ruling officials
in Iran are interested in, as well.
Don Gonyea. Where’s Gonyea?
Question: Right here. Thank you. Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister, can
you each react to King Abdullah’s statement of a week ago that we really
are at a critical place in the conflict and that if this moment isn’t
seized and if a peace isn’t achieved now, soon, that in a year, year and
a half, we could see renewed major conflict, perhaps war? And do you
agree with that assessment?
Prime Minister Netanyahu: I think we have to seize the moment and I
think we’re fortunate in having a leader like President Obama and a new
government in Israel and perhaps a new understanding in the Arab world
that I haven’t seen in my lifetime. And you’re very kind to be calling
me young, but I’m more than half a century old and in my 59 years in the
life of the Jewish state, there’s never been a time when Arabs and
Israelis see a common threat the way we see it today and also see the
need to join together in working towards peace while simultaneously
defending ourselves against this common threat.
I think we have -- we have ways to capitalize on this sense of urgency
and we’re prepared to move with the President and with others in the
Arab world if they’re prepared to move, as well. And I think the
important thing that we discussed, among other things, is how to
buttress the Israeli-Palestinian peace tracks, which we want to resume
right away, with participation from others in the Arab world; how we
give confidence to each other that would -- changes the reality, it
changes the reality on the ground, changing political realities
top-down, as well, while we work to broaden the circle of peace.
And I think that the sense of urgency that King Abdullah expressed is
shared by me and shared by many others and I definitely know it’s shared
by President Obama.
President Obama: Look, I think there’s an extraordinary opportunity and
the Prime Minister said it well. You have Arab states in the region --
the Jordanians, the Egyptians, the Saudis -- who I think are looking for
an opportunity to break this long-standing impasse but aren’t sure how
to do it, and share concerns about Iran’s potential development of a
nuclear weapon. In order for us to potentially realign interests in the
region in a constructive way, bolstering, to use the Prime Minister’s
word, the Palestinian-Israeli peace track is critical.
It will not be easy. It never has been easy. In discussions, I don’t
think the Prime Minister would mind me saying to him -- or saying
publically what I said privately, which is that there is a recognition
that the Palestinians are going to have to do a better job providing the
kinds of security assurances that Israelis would need to achieve a
two-state solution; that, you know, the leadership of the Palestinians
will have to gain additional legitimacy and credibility with their own
people, and delivering services. And that’s something that the United
States and Israel can be helpful in seeing them accomplish.
The other Arab states have to be more supportive and be bolder in
seeking potential normalization with Israel. And next week I will have
the Palestinian Authority President Abbas as well as President Mubarak
here and I will deliver that message to them.
Now, Israel is going to have to take some difficult steps as well, and I
shared with the Prime Minister the fact that under the roadmap and under
Annapolis that there’s a clear understanding that we have to make
progress on settlements. Settlements have to be stopped in order for us
to move forward. That’s a difficult issue. I recognize that, but it’s
an important one and it has to be addressed.
I think the humanitarian situation in Gaza has to be addressed. Now, I
was along the border in Sderot and saw the evidence of weapons that had
been raining down on the heads of innocents in those Israeli cities, and
that’s unacceptable. So we’ve got to work with the Egyptians to deal
with the smuggling of weapons and it has to be meaningful because no
Prime Minister of any country is going to tolerate missiles raining down
on their citizens’ heads.
On the other hand, the fact is, is that if the people of Gaza have no
hope, if they can’t even get clean water at this point, if the border
closures are so tight that it is impossible for reconstruction and
humanitarian efforts to take place, then that is not going to be a
recipe for Israel’s long-term security or a constructive peace track to
move forward.
So all these things are going to have to come together and it’s going to
be difficult, but the one thing that I’ve committed to the Prime
Minister is we are going to be engaged, the United States is going to
roll up our sleeves. We want to be a strong partner in this process.
I have great confidence in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s political skills,
but also his historical vision and his recognition that during the years
that he is Prime Minister this second go-around, he is probably going to
be confronted with as many important decisions about the long-term
strategic interests of Israel as any Prime Minister that we’ve seen in a
very long time. And I have great confidence that he’s going to rise to
the occasion and I actually think that you’re going to see movement in
-- among Arab states that we have not seen before.
But the trick is to try to coordinate all this in a very delicate
political environment. And that’s why I’m so pleased to have George
Mitchell, who is standing behind the scrum there, as our special envoy,
because I’m very confident that as somebody who was involved in equally
delicate negotiations in Northern Ireland, he is somebody who recognizes
that if you apply patience and determination, and you keep your eye on
the long-term goal, as the Prime Minister articulated -- which is a
wide-ranging peace, not a grudging peace, not a transitory peace, but a
wide-ranging, regional peace -- that we can make great progress.
Question: Mr. President, the Israeli Prime Minister and the Israeli
administration have said on many occasions -- on some occasions that
only if the Iranian threat will be solved, they can achieve real
progress on the Palestinian threat. Do you agree with that kind of
linkage?
And to the Israeli Prime Minister, you were speaking about the political
track. Are you willing to get into final status issues/negotiations
like borders, like Jerusalem in the near future, based on the two-state
solution? And do you still hold this opinion about the linkage between
the Iranian threat and your ability to achieve any progress on the
Palestinian threat?
President Obama: Well, let me say this. There’s no doubt that it is
difficult for any Israeli government to negotiate in a situation in
which they feel under immediate threat. That’s not conducive to
negotiations. And as I’ve said before, I recognize Israel’s legitimate
concerns about the possibility of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon when
they have a president who has in the past said that Israel should not
exist. That would give any leader of any country pause.
Having said that, if there is a linkage between Iran and the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process, I personally believe it actually runs
the other way. To the extent that we can make peace with the
Palestinians -- between the Palestinians and the Israelis, then I
actually think it strengthens our hand in the international community in
dealing with a potential Iranian threat.
Having said that, I think that dealing with Iran’s potential nuclear
capacity is something that we should be doing even if there already was
peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And I think that
pursuing Israeli-Palestinian peace is something that is in Israeli’s
security interests and the United States’ national security interests,
even if Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon. They’re both important.
And we have to move aggressively on both fronts. And I think that based
on my conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu, he agrees with me
that they’re both important. That’s not to say that he’s not making a
calculation, as he should, about what are some of the most immediate
threats to Israeli’s security, and I understand that.
But, look, imagine how much less mischief a Hezbollah or a Hamas could
do if in fact we had moved a Palestinian-Israeli track in a direction
that gave the Palestinian people hope. And if Hezbollah and Hamas is
weakened, imagine how that impacts Iran’s ability to make mischief, and
vice versa.
I mean, so obviously these things are related, but they are important
separately. And I’m confident that the United States, working with
Israel, can make progress on both fronts.
Question: Thank you.
Prime Minister Netanyahu: We’ve had extraordinarily friendly and
constructive talks here today, and I’m very grateful to the President
for that. We want to move peace forward, and we want to ward off the
great threats.
There isn’t a policy linkage, and that’s what I hear the President
saying, and that’s what I’m saying too. And I’ve always said there’s
not a policy linkage between pursuing simultaneously peace between
Israel and the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world, and to
trying to deal with removing the threat of a nuclear bomb.
There are causal links. The President talked about one of them. It
would help, obviously, unite a broad front against Iran if we had peace
between Israel and the Palestinians. And conversely, if Iran went
nuclear, it would threaten the progress towards peace and destabilize
the entire area, and threaten existing peace agreement.
So it’s very clear to us. I think we actually -- we don’t see closely
on it, we see exactly eye to eye on this -- that we want to move
simultaneously and then parallel on two fronts: the front of peace, and
the front of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear capability.
On the front of peace, the important thing for me is to resume
negotiations as rapidly as possible, and to -- and my view is less one
of terminology, but one of substance. And I ask myself, what do we end
up with? If we end up with another Gaza -- the President has described
to you there’s rockets falling out of Gaza -- that is something we don’t
want to happen, because a terror base next to our cities that doesn’t
call -- recognize Israel’s existence and calls for our destruction and
asks for our destruction is not arguing peace.
If, however, the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, if
they -- if they fight terror, if they educate their children for peace
and to a better future, then I think we can come at a substantive
solution that allows the two people to live side by side in security and
peace and I add prosperity, because I’m a great believer in this.
So I think the terminology will take care of itself if we have the
substantive understanding. And I think we can move forward on this. I
have great confidence in your leadership, Mr. President, and in your
friendship to my country, and in your championing of peace and
security. And the answer is, both come together -- peace and security
are intertwined. They’re inseparable.
And I look forward, Mr. President, to working with you to achieve both.
President Obama: Thank you, everybody.
Book/CDs by Michael E. Eidenmuller, Published by
McGraw-Hill (2008)
Text, Audio, & Image (Screenshot) Source: WhiteHouse.gov
Page Updated: 12/7/23
U.S. Copyright Status: Text & Audio = Public domain.