(MENAFN- The Peninsula) US President Barack Obama said yesterday that too many Israelis were ready to abandon a bid for peace in the region and, in a departure from his prepared remarks, added that this was something Israelis should think about.
"The violence engulfing the region today has made too many Israelis ready to abandon the hard work of peace," Obama told the United Nations General Assembly.
Then, departing from printed remarks made available to reporters beforehand, Obama added: "And that's something worthy of reflection within Israel."
"Because let's be clear: The status quo in the West Bank and Gaza is not sustainable. We cannot afford to turn away from this effort - not when rockets are fired at innocent Israelis, or the lives of so many Palestinian children are taken from us in Gaza," Obama said, speaking a week before he is due to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
His comments followed a seven-week Gaza war that ended in late August with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire. Israel soon afterwards announced a land appropriation in the occupied West Bank that an anti-settlement group termed the biggest in 30 years, drawing Palestinian condemnation and a rebuke from its US ally.
"So long as I am president, we will stand up for the principle that Israelis, Palestinians, the region, and the world will be more just and more safe with two states living side by side, in peace and security," Obama said.
Asked by Reuters to respond to Obama's remarks, Israel's UN Ambassador Ron Prosor declined comment. Due to meet Netanyahu on October 1, Obama said the US would never give up on the pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace. He said violence in the Middle East should cure anyone of the illusion the Arab-Israeli conflict is the main source of the region's problems.
Meanwhile, Israel will increase its 2015 defence budget by 6bn shekels ($1.6bn) or more than 10 percent to 57bn shekels, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said yesterday. With Israel also preparing for a possible confrontation with Iran and trying to manage a weakening economy, the budget standoff had stirred speculation that Finance Minister Yair Lapid could quit the cabinet.
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