Obama's Speech at United Nations Video Sept. 23

Transcript.

Netanyahu Says No Can Do

I'm tired of the Middle East's inability to resolve its issues, leaving the rest of the world vulnerable. These people are all grownups, yet for decades they've been unable to solve their problems. Apparently, Obama has dropped the freeze requirement, so I guess the ball is now in Mahmoud Abbas' court and he's stated he wants a freeze first:

Prodding Israel and the Palestinian Authority to restart talks aimed at a permanent resolution of their decades-old conflict, President Obama dropped a demand for an Israeli settlement freeze, U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

"Simply put, it is past time to talk about starting negotiations. It is time to move forward," Obama told reporters before a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"It is time to show the flexibility and common sense and sense of compromise that is necessary to achieve our goals," Obama said. CNN

Obama's Speech at Climate Change Summit Sept. 22

Obama, in a green tie, says developing nations have to do what they can, when they can to stop climate change. There is finally recognition of what needs to be done, he said. (Except for wingnuts. They don't believe in global warming, as if it's something you believe in or not).

Transcript here.
Today is a day of addressing major problems: Next up for Obama, Middle East peace. Obama meets individually with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas. Then they will all meet together.
A CBS intern must have posted this video because it says: "Obama to tackle Middle East Peach." If only. I'm sure he could handle a peach.

Obama Meets With Emir of Kuwait Video

The Emir wishes Obama a happy birthday (tomorrow).

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah told US President Barack Obama on Monday that Arab states will act on their peace initiative only once Israel "implements and fulfills its obligations."
"I affirmed to President Obama that we are interested in bringing about peace in the Middle East. It is in our interest that peace be brought about," the emir said through a translator as he met with Obama at the White House.
The visiting leader noted pan-Arab support for the initiative presented by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and stressed: "We will implement this peace initiative when Israel implements and fulfills its obligations."
The Arab peace initiative offers Israel full normalization of ties in return for its withdrawal from occupied Arab land and the creation of a Palestinian state. AFP

The Obama administration is launching a Middle East public relations campaign to push for peace:

“One of the public misimpressions is that it’s all been about settlements,” Mr. Mitchell, the administration’s special envoy to the Middle East, said in a rare interview Friday after six months on the job. “It is completely inaccurate to portray this as, ‘We’re only asking the Israelis to do things.’ We are asking everybody to do things.”

Another misperception, he said, was that Arab countries had rebuffed Mr. Obama’s request to make moves toward a more normal relationship with Israel — a perception fueled by a Saudi official’s blunt public rejection of such incremental steps in Washington on Friday.

“We’ve gotten, over all, a very good response, a desire to act, some public statements to that effect from the crown prince of Bahrain, the president of Egypt,” said Mr. Mitchell, who returned last week from his fifth trip to the region, including stops in Israel, Egypt and Syria. Saudi Arabia’s negative public comments, other officials said, bear little relation to what it is saying in private.

In coming weeks, senior administration officials said, the White House will begin a public-relations campaign in Israel and Arab countries to better explain Mr. Obama’s plans for a comprehensive peace agreement involving Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab world. Read more at the NYT

Netanyau Calls for Immediate Peace Negotiations

Benjamin Netanyahu is giving a speech today at Bar Ilan University. Haaretz just twittered:

Netanyahu: With God`s help we will know no more wars, only peace

Later in the speech, he's expected to endorse a Palestinian state. From Haaretz:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Palestinian leaders to restart Middle East peace negotiations without preconditions, in a highly anticipated foreign policy address at Bar Ilan University.

"I call on you, our Palestinian neighbors, and to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority: Let us begin peace negotiations immediately, without preconditions," he said.

"Israel is committed to international agreements and expects all the other parties to fulfill their obligations as well," he said.

Netanyahu said he was prepared to meet with the leaders of neighboring Arab countries at any time, to promote regional peace and to gain their contribution to the Palestinian economy.

The prime minister reiterated that Israel has no desire to control the Palestinian people, and declared that both nations should be able to live side by side in peace.

"We want both Israeli and Palestinian children to live without war," Netanyahu said. "We must ask ourselves - why has peace not yet arrived after 60 years?"

Still, he said, Israel would not accept a situation in which it was existing beside a terrorist state. Every withdrawal from settlement territories would contribute to such terror, said Netanyahu.

The prime minister also said that Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish state, and cited the root of the regional conflict to "even moderate" Palestinian elements' refusal to do so. Read more at Haaretz.

Obama Pledges to Work For Middle East Peace

Obama says he'll work toward peace from day one and was advised by Jordan's king Abdullah, who gave Obama a lift to the airport, that an "even handed" approach in the MidEast would improve MidEast-U.S. relations. Obama also noted that Gen. David Petraeus disagreed with a timetable but Obama, if elected president, has to think about using some of the $10 billion spent a month in Iraq fixing the U.S. economy.

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stepped into the thicket of Mideast politics Tuesday, declaring in Jordan that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are strong enough internally to make the bold concessions necessary for peace.
Obama said he would work to bring the two sides together "starting from the minute I'm sworn into office." But he cautioned it is "unrealistic to expect that a U.S. president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."
After meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II, Obama flew to Israel for talks with Israeli leaders. He'll also meet later with Palestinians.
Upon his arrival in Jerusalem, he spoke of a "historic and special relationship between the United States and Israel, one that cannot be broken" and one that he hoped to strengthen as president.
In Jordan, he made his comments on the struggle for Mideast peace within a few hours of stepping off a military aircraft — a presidential contender carrying body armor and wearing orange earplugs — following his tour of war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq with two fellow senators.
Standing alongside ancient mountaintop ruins with the Amman city skyline his memorable backdrop, Obama declined repeatedly to concede that President Bush's decision to dispatch 30,000 troops to Iraq in 2007 had succeeded. Still, he said, "I believe that the situation in Iraq is more secure than it was a year and a half ago."
....

"The Palestinians are divided between Fatah and Hamas. And so it's difficult for either side to make the bold move that would bring about peace the way, for example, the peace between Israel and Egypt was brought about. Those leaders were in a much stronger position to initiate that kind of peace."
In particular, he said the United States should create "a greater sense of security among the Israelis, a greater sense that economic progress and increased freedom of movement is something that can be accomplished in the Palestinian territories and, with those confidence-building measures, that we get discussions back on track."
Jordan's king told Obama that an evenhanded U.S. policy would bolster America's credibility in the Middle East and that achieving Palestinian statehood was essential for ending the Arab-Israeli conflict, according to a royal palace statement summarizing Abdullah's remarks during their private meeting.
In Israel, Obama also was expected to stop at Yad Vashem, the memorial to victims of the Holocaust, and possibly the Western Wall, the site of an ancient temple and Judaism's holiest place.
......

He steered well clear of explicitly criticizing President Bush in his Mideast comments, although he said, "What a U.S. president can do is apply sustained energy and focus on the issues of the Israelis and the Palestinians."
The administration has been prodding the two sides toward a compromise in its final months in office, but has come under criticism from some for not making it a stronger priority earlier.
In comments on his trip to Iraq, Obama acknowledged that Gen. David Petraeus, the overall commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, had concerns about a fixed timetable for withdrawal.
He expressed sympathy with that view, though he made it clear his outlook would be a broader one.
"I think he wants maximum flexibility to be able to — to do what he believes needs to be done inside of Iraq," Obama said, "But keep in mind, for example, one of General Petraeus' responsibilities is not to think about how could we be using some of that $10 billion a month to shore up a U.S. economy that is really hurting right now. If I'm president of the United States, that is part of my responsibility."

Obama conference in Jordan