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Biden: Israel must accept two-state solution

Just hours before President Peres' White House visit, US vice president uses AIPAC conference as platform to demand Israel 'work for a two-state solution… not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement'

US Vice President Joe Biden pressed Israel on Tuesday to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a speech to the leading pro-Israel lobby.

 

Israel's new government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far declined to publicly endorse the two-state plan, an omission that has dismayed US, Arab and European officials.

 

Biden, speaking to a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), said Palestinians must halt militant violence and Israel "has to work for a two-state solution ... not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement."

 

Biden's comments came ahead of a meeting between President Shimon Peres and US President Barack Obama later on Tuesday and less than two weeks before Netanyahu visits the White House.

 

In a speech to the AIPAC on Monday, Netanyahu said he was ready to begin Israeli-Palestinian peace talks immediately but he made no reference to a Palestinian state.

 

Obama has made clear his own commitment to the two-state solution, which has been the basis for US policy in the Middle East conflict for years, and has nudged Netanyahu to accept the goal of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.05.09, 18:37
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