Barack Obama Quotes

It is important that the right of Israel to exist should be respected and also the viable Palestinian authorities, in terms of political and financial situation, be supported so that both can live side by side in peace and security. That is a two-state solution.

When Israel says that it will recognise Palestinian rights and will withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem and grant the right of return, stop settlements and recognise the rights of the Palestinians to self-determination - only then will Hamas be ready to take a serious step.

That's what I am standing up for - Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state living side-by-side in peace and security with its neighbors.

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

I believe that peace with the Palestinians is most urgent - urgent than ever before. It is necessary. It is crucial. It is possible. A delay may worsen its chances. Israel and the Palestinians are, in my judgment, ripe today to restart the peace process.

The only way to security for Israel and a humane life for Palestinians in their own land is political. No matter where the fault for past negotiating failures lies, there is no other path.

The security and the future of Jordan is hand-in-hand with the future of the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Invariably, also a Palestinian state should live side by side with Israel within recognized and secure borders and the security and prosperity of the Palestinian people must be guaranteed.

The Palestinian Arabs will have their autonomy, we will have our security. We shall live together.

President George W. Bush is the first American president to call openly for two-states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

I am passionately invested in the survival of Israel and everything Israel represents. But I am extremely critical of much of its policy. I believe that the occupation must end. And if it doesn't, it will end Israel. I'm not in favor of settlements.

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.

I'm hopeful that Israelis can go to Ramallah whenever they want and see how the people are living.

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

A precondition for any solution to the Arab Israeli problem must be a recognition on the part of all parties on the legitimacy of all parties. That is, you cannot build a political agreement on the premise that a Jewish state in Palestine is illegitimate.

The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security.

The United States cannot want peace more than the Palestinians and the Israelis.

There is no such thing as a happy compromise. Israelis and Palestinians cannot become one happy family because they are not one, not happy and not family either. They are two unhappy families who must divide a small house into even smaller apartments. The first step, is to sign peace with clenched teeth, and after signing the contract, start working slowly on a gradual emotional de-escalation on both sides.

The future of Israel has been a key bipartisan concern for generations of Americans, and it is almost axiomatic that if the Palestinians have no viable future, neither does Israel.

It is a false choice to tell Israel that it has to choose between peace on the one hand and security on the other. The United Nations would not ask any other country to make that choice, and it should not ask it of Israel.

I support Israel. And I have long supported a two-state solution and a democratic and secure state for the Jewish people, with a democratic and viable Palestinian state side-by-side in peace and dignity.

While Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines...

There is no consensus in Israel regarding the two-state formula. We will not, under any circumstances, allow the establishment of a neighboring state that will be a genuine threat on our existence.

My wish is peace for Israel and for Israel's neighbors.

Virtually all informed observers agree that a fair and equitable resolution of the plight of the Palestinians would considerably weaken the anger and hatred of Israel and the US in the Arab and Muslim worlds - and far beyond, as international polls reveal. Such an agreement is surely within reach, if the US and Israel depart from their long-standing rejectionism.