Obama Meets Cameron, Says Palestinian U.N. Statehood Campaign a 'Mistake'
U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday the possible Palestinian drive for national recognition at the United Nations was a "mistake", in his most direct criticism yet of the campaign.
Obama also urged Israel and the Palestinians to make "wrenching compromise" for a peace deal after a week of acrimony left prospects of a final settlement more distant than ever.
"The only way we are going to see a Palestinian state is if Israelis and Palestinians agree on a just peace," Obama said at a joint news conference in London with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
"I strongly believe for the Palestinians to take the United Nations route rather than the path of sitting down and talking with the Israelis is a mistake."
Obama's comments came just hours after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas slammed a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said the Palestinians would seek U.N. recognition if peace talks do not resume.
In a key policy speech last week Obama had called for new talks based on the armistice lines in place before the 1967 Six Day War, a call firmly rejected by Netanyahu.
Obama said he was "confident" that a peace deal was achievable eventually, but added: "It is going to require wrenching compromise by both sides."
On a separate note, Cameron said the United States and Britain will push at this week's G8 meeting for a "major program of economic and political support" for countries involved in the Arab Spring.
"The president and I are agreed we will stand with those who work for freedom," Cameron said, referring to the revolutions in the Middle East.
"This is the message we will take to the G8 tomorrow when we push for a major program of economic and political support for those countries seeking reform," he added.
Obama, who like Cameron will attend a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Deauville, France, starting Thursday, said "historic change" was unfolding across the region.
"We are both committed to doing everything that we can to support peoples who reach for democracy and leaders who implement democratic reform," Obama said.
"Tomorrow we'll discuss with our G8 partners how those of us in the wider international community can best support nations who build a framework for democracy."
Egypt and Tunisia, the pioneering nations in the "Arab Spring", will be at the meeting to seek financial aid after the uprisings that toppled presidents Hosni Mubarak and Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in January and February.
France has urged G8 members, many of them facing budget crises of their own, to come up with billions in aid to support the post-revolutionary governments in Tunisia and Libya, but officials have said no precise sums will be pledged.
Source: Agence France Presse
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