WASHINGTON, June 9, 2010 (WAFA)- President Mahmoud Abbas thanked U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday in granting the Palestinians $400 million to the west Bank and Gaza Strip.
In remarks made as he met today Abbas in the White House, Obama said: the United States -- which is already the biggest humanitarian aid donor in Gaza -- is going to be announcing an additional $400 million in assistance for housing, school construction, business development -- not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, because we think it's important for us to reaffirm once again our commitment to improving the day-to-day lives of ordinary Palestinians.
He called on Israel to work with all parties to find a solution for Gaza, urging Israel to curb settlement activity and called on the Palestinians to prevent any actions that could incite confrontation.
Obama called on Israel to reassess its blockade on the Gaza Strip – but said the best guarantee of a solution was an independent Palestinian state.
'There should be means by which we will be able to stop flow of arms that endanger Israel’s security,' Obama said.
'If we can get a new conceptual framework, we should be able to take what is a tragedy and create an opportunity so the lives of people of Gaza are improved. But in the long run the way to solve this problem is creation of the Palestinian state and ensuring Israel’s security.'
He thanked President Abbas for being here.” We just concluded some very productive discussions on this issue. I commended President Abbas for the excellent work that he and Prime Minister Fayyad have been engaged in over the last several years in strengthening the security as well as improving the economic situation for his people. He's done so through hard work and dedication, and I think the whole world has noticed the significant improvements that we've seen as a consequence of his good administration.”
“But obviously there is a lot of work that remains to be done so that we can create a two-state solution in the Middle East in which we have an Israel that is secure and fully accepted by its neighbors, and a Palestinian people that have their own state, self-determination, and the ability to chart their own destiny,” obama said.
Abbas said: we have just held very important discussions that touched on the political process as well as the very important latest development that happened in Gaza.
“We deeply appreciate all the efforts of the United States, as well as the effort of President Obama, and all the assistance and help for pushing forward the economic and security levels,” he added. “We have reached a satisfactory picture of the economic and security levels. Yet we are determined to keep pushing forward in our efforts to bring it up to the next level.
“I also appreciate the attention and the determination of President Obama in seeing that we push forward the political process as soon as possible” Abbas added. “I assert that we will not give up on this endeavor ahead of us, because it is in our interest, it in the interest of Israel, in the interest of the world, and also, most of all, in the interest of the United States.”
“We know that time is of essence; we know that we must not miss this opportunity. We affirm the importance of bringing about peace and security in the region, “He said.
“I would like to thank President Obama for the support that he will give to Gaza -- and we have just talked about that now, Abbas said. “This is a positive signal of the United States that the United States cares about the suffering of the people in Gaza and about the suffering of the Palestinian people.”
“We also see the need to lift the Israeli siege of the Palestinian people, the need to open all the crossings, and the need to let building material and humanitarian material and all the necessities go into the Palestinian people,” he added.
“We appreciate the attention given to the formation of an investigation committee that would investigate what happened in the latest events, the events of what we call the Freedom Flotilla, or the Freedom Fleet,” Abbas said.
“I say in front of you, Mr. President, that we have nothing to do with incitement against Israel, and we're not doing that. What we care about is to live in coexistence with Israel, in order to bring about the independent Palestinian state that will live side by side with Israel in peace and stability,” he added.
“We adopt and we affirm the Arab Peace Initiative that was adopted in summits, in Arab summits, as well as in summits held by Islamic countries. Fifty-seven Arab and Islamic countries have said that they would recognize Israel if Israel withdrew from the occupied Arab land,” he mentioned.
“Mr. President, we thank you and we express our deep respect for all your efforts, specifically on the peace process and bringing about peace in the Middle East. We know the two-state solution you said is a critical interest of the United States. This is a slogan that we are proud of and we will pursue very seriously our efforts in order to bring about peace in the Middle East,” President Abbas concluded.
