Barack Obama has voiced opposition to Israeli settlement-building but pressed the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to drop his demand for a freeze before Middle East peace talks can resume.
Recommended Stories
After an effusive welcome in Israel, Obama travelled to the West Bank on Thursday, where disillusioned Palestinians held out little hope that their moment in the spotlight of a US presidential visit would help revive the peace process.
At a news conference with Abbas, Obama said he had “been clear” with the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, that Washington did not consider continued settlement activity to be constructive to “the cause of peace”.
In a later speech in Jerusalem the US president re-iterated the line, telling an audience of students that continued settlement activity was “counterproductive” to peace.
“Israelis must recognise that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable, that real borders will have to be drawn,” Obama said in a nationally televised speech.
