In a powerful direct appeal to Israelis, President Barack Obama insisted that a two-state peace with the Palestinians could still be forged and is their only hope of true security. In a trademark soaring address Thursday, Obama also built on his vow of an “eternal” defence of the Jewish state in the face of Iran’s nuclear programme, which has been at the centrepiece of his first trip to the country as US president.
Obama sought to convince young Israelis to reshape the internal political dynamics that have seen peace talks frozen for two years.
“Peace is necessary. Indeed it is the only path to true security,” he told an exuberant audience at a Jerusalem conference centre.
“You can be the generation that permanently secures the Zionist dream,” Obama said, warning that a two-state solution was the only way to ensure Israel remained a Jewish state amid changing demographics.
Obama urged his young Israeli audience to “look at the world through (Palestinian) eyes.”
During a subsequent state dinner at his Jerusalem residence, President Shimon Peres told his guest that he was “moved by the way in which you spoke to the hearts of the young Israelis.”