Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas of the PA appears together with President Obama, who urged the leaders to produce "lasting change" during their peace talks in Washington. Obama opened a dinner with remarks calling the gathering an event that would have consequences for future generations.
Atlanta-Falcons"Though we all hold a different title, we are bound by one title we share: we are fathers blessed with daughters, so we must ask ourselves what kind of world we want to bequeath to our children and our grandchildren". He recognized the Muslim and Jewish holidays that were coinciding, and called them, "a time to reflect on right and wrong a time to ponder one's place in the world, and a time when the people of two great religions remind the world of a truth that is both simple and profound: that each of us, all of us in our hearts and our lives, are capable of lasting change". In remarks that followed, Netanyahu said that he "came here today to make peace", and "didn't come here to find excuses or make them". And he addressed Abbas directly, saying that they could not correct the failures of the past, but could work to improve the future. Abbas then struck similar themes, calling on Israelis and Palestinians "to live as neighbors, partners" while calling for an independent Palestinian state. He said he thought it would be possible to achieve a settlement "within a year" despite a troubled history between the Israelis and the Palestinians, including what he described as "the historical injustices of 1948" and "the occupation that started in 1967". Obama's one-on-one meetings earlier with Netanyahu and Abbas in the White House Oval Office began under the cloud of the violent attack Aug 31 on the West Bank, claimed by Hamas militants, which left four Israeli settlers dead. Obama angrily denounced the killings as a "senseless slaughter" by "terrorists who are purposely trying to undermine these talks. "But", he said, "we are going to remain stalwart". The violence, Obama said, underscored the need for talks that would help assure the security of Israel. Netanyahu, standing next to Obama in the Rose Garden, in turn blamed people who "trample human rights into the dust and butcher everything that they oppose". The PA has detained scores of suspects in the killings, and Obama took pains to emphasize that Abbas, too, had condemned the violence. "I have the utmost confidence in him and his belief in a two-state solution in which the people rock republic of Israel and the Palestinians are living side by side in peace and security", the president said, "and so I'm also grateful to him for his presence here today". "The message should go out to Hamas and everybody else who is taking credit for these heinous crimes that this is not going to stop us from not only ensuring a secure Israel but also securing a longer-lasting peace in which people throughout the region can take a different course", Obama added. Netanyahu said that it is important that the peace talks include looking at how to ensure Israeli security. "That is a fundamental element, an important foundation, of the peace that we seek and work for". Against that backdrop, the bilateral meetings begin a two-day series of intensive encounters between the leaders. They include a working dinner on Sept 1 hosted by Obama in the White House's Old Family Dining Room, whose soft yellow walls and curtains provide a more intimate setting than the State Dining Room. Along with Obama, Netanyahu, Abbas, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan, the guest list includes the former British PM, Tony Blair. He will attend in his capacity as special envoy of the Middle East Quartet, which consists of the US, Russia, the UN a
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