Tom Lantos Quotes

I hope that France - and all of Europe - we would take an initiative for the year 2012 to be the year of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Myself, I don't think you will ever get security in the Mideast until you have what on the surface appears to be fair to both sides. You have to have leaders committed to peace, on both sides. One side can't impose a solution.

Every administration has this idea to talk tough to Israel and make nice to the Arabs and the Palestinians, and that's the way to bring about peace. It's counter-productive - it's actually the opposite.

I believe however that peace is attainable regardless of the Arabs mentality, society or government.

The failure to set standards for Palestinian conduct hurts the cause of peace.

I feel that we don't have the luxury of asking whether or not the Palestinians and Israelis can achieve peace. I think we have to just ask the question of when and how.

It is the hope of the European Union that Ariel Sharon will keep the peace process alive and continue the dialogue according to the wishes of all the parties involved.

Prime Minister Sharon, Prime Minister Abbas, I urge you today to end the designs of those who seek destruction, annihilation and occupation, and I urge you to have the will and the courage to begin to realize our dreams of peace, prosperity and coexistence.

My colleagues and I have gone in the footsteps of our predecessors since the very first day we were called by our people to care for their future. We went any place, we looked for any avenue, we made any effort to bring about negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, negotiations without which peace remains an abstract desire.

There is not going to be a peace process unless there is talks involving Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas, and I think everyone knows that.

There is no solution to the conflict in this region except with the disappearance of Israel.

Needless to say, if the Arab-Israeli conflict is about interstate disputes and the need to resolve the future of the West Bank and Gaza, it can be solved; if it is a religious conflict, nothing but violence is ahead.

Blowing up buses will not induce the Israelis to move forward, and neither will the killing of Palestinians or the demolition of their homes and their future. All this needs to stop. And we pledge that Jordan will do its utmost to help achieve it.

Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace.

Israel desperately needs peace if it is to come anywhere close to being the 'light unto nations' of Jewish dreams.

If you are going to make peace, you can't just meet nice people.

What a war in Iraq will not do is bring about peace in the Middle East or end the injustices that feed resentment and breed terrorists.

We will stand up for our friends in the world. And one of the most important friends is the State of Israel. My administration will be steadfast in support Israel against terrorism and violence, and in seeking the peace for which all Israelis pray.

Making peace is harder than making war.

Like most Americans, I hope and wish is that there is a peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict. Unfortunately, there are extremists on both sides who oppose a peaceful resolution and instead choose violence.

I think that a strong Israel is the only Israel that will bring the Arabs to the peace table.

If there will be a serious Palestinian prime minister who makes a 100 percent effort to end terrorism, then we can have peace. Each side has to take steps. If terror continues, there will not be an independent Palestinian state. Israel will not accept it, if terror continues.

Peace cannot be unilateral.

There was a moment when I simply understood that this war cannot be won.

There is no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended. Conflicts are started by human beings, sustained by human beings, and they can be ended by human beings.