APN to Obama: Don't Leave Mideast Peace Out of Your Mideast Speech

The future can only be ensured by ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

U.S. President Barack Obama

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - Amidst reports that President Obama will in the coming days deliver a major Middle East foreign policy speech, APN President Debra DeLee today issued the following statement:

"We are deeply concerned about reports that, on the eve of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S., President Obama is planning to deliver a major Middle East foreign policy speech that fails to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ensuring Israel’s future as a democracy and a Jewish state must be an integral part of President Obama’s vision for the Middle East. This future can only be ensured by ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The time has come for the President to grab the bull by the horns and take dramatic action, presenting his vision for Israeli-Palestinian peace and laying out how he plans to turn this vision into the basis for an agreement.

“President Obama is right to want to 're-set' U.S. relations with the Arab world in the wake of the 'Arab Spring' and the killing of Osama bin Laden. These developments represent an historic opportunity to build new U.S. relations with the peoples of the Middle East. However, it would be a serious mistake to try to do so without also re-setting his Administration’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"There is no way to remove the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the agenda of the peoples of the Arab world. No amount of wishful thinking in Washington or Jerusalem can change this. Ignoring this reality will undermine any U.S. outreach to the Arab world and risks inflaming the already tense Israeli-Palestinian status quo.

"Indeed, re-engaging energetically to resolve the conflict would do more to restore U.S. standing and credibility in the eyes of the peoples of the Arab world than any speech President Obama could ever make to them.

“The U.S. can play an important role in shaping the future of the Middle East – including that of Israel and the Palestinians. President Obama can inspire the peoples of the region by his example and by using U.S. political and economic weight to support them in their fight for democracy, good governance, freedom, security and peace. He should lay the groundwork for such a role now.”