Ehud Olmert Quotes

The United States is for a two-state solution. The United States wants to see the Israelis and Palestinians come together.

Israelis and Palestinians are suspicious of each other and of promises from outside. But the need for a negotiated solution between the parties should not stymie international clarity and consensus about the endgame in terms of borders and other issues.

As prime minister, I was the Israeli leader who walked the greatest distance in his offers to the Palestinians.

When a deeply sympathetic American president asks for concessions and compromises and appears able to cajole some from the Palestinians, which was the Clinton/Rabin and Bush/Sharon combination, Israel must respond.

A final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians has to be based on a program of exchange of territory and populations.

We must stay focused on the bilateral negotiations between the Palestinians and us.

The people of Israel will have to be convinced that the Palestinians are ready for peace.

I have long believed that Israel should seek to give up the so-called Occupied Territories in return for security, and that a Palestinian state should be established. I have felt that way all my life. I think it is unreasonable to ask the Israelis to do this in a context where there is no guarantee at all that suicide bombers will be controlled.

A peace deal requires agreements, and you don't make agreements with your friends, you make agreements with your enemies.

I don't know where Bush is going - yet. But, Sharon obviously - I wrote somewhere in the last several months, that Sharon has adopted, essentially, the position of the Labor Party: that the Palestinians are here to stay.

I am deeply concerned that, without peace and a two-state solution, the Jewish and democratic nature of Israel is in danger. That's why I have opposed Israel's settlement policy since 1973, and that's why I have favored a two-state solution since 1967.

For me to propose a division of Jerusalem was really terrible. I did it because I reached a conclusion that without which there will not be peace.

By focusing once and for all on helping the Palestinians build a free society, I have no doubt that an historic compromise between Israelis and Palestinians can be reached and that peace can prevail.

Here, I declare that the Palestine Liberation Organization is ready to return immediately to the negotiating table on the basis of the adopted terms of reference based on international legitimacy and a complete cessation of settlement activities.

Most of the approaches to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, have been directed at trying to resolve the most complex problems, like refugees and Jerusalem, which is akin to building the pyramid from the top down.

The U.S. should support the historic Gaza withdrawal as a first step toward a final settlement: a permanent Palestinian state in Gaza and nearly all of the West Bank.

I think that peace will require two states, a Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state.

The way for the Palestinians to get a state is to go ahead and build it.

Jerusalem is united, will never be divided again.

A lasting two-state solution requires two credible partners, and not just one side - Israel - taking superficial steps simply to placate world opinion.

Both during the elections and as Prime Minister, I have repeatedly and publicly said that I support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel.

We use American influence with Israel not to promote economic growth in the West Bank, but to try and impede Jewish - never Arab - construction in the capital city.

Now, when we say we want peace, what we want is really for our Palestinian neighbours to have a demilitarized state next to us that recognizes the Jewish State. We're willing to recognize their state, the Palestinian state. But we ask them to recognize the Jewish state.

I would like to see real peace and a state of Israel living peacefully alongside a state of Palestine.

How do you negotiate a two state solution with the Palestinians when they do not believe that one of the states has the right to exist?