The president said that denying the Holocaust is "baseless, it is ignorant, and it is hateful" and that stereotypes of Jewish people and threats to annihilate Israel are "deeply wrong." Yet Obama also emphasized the suffering of Palestinians dislocated from their homes and suffering the daily humiliations of Israeli occupation.
Palestinians must abandon violence, he said, Israel must stop its expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and Arab states must help Palestinians develop governing institutions.
"Let there be no doubt, the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable," the president said. "America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity and a state of their own."
He added: "It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true. Too many tears have been shed, too much blood has been shed. . . . All of us must live for the day when the mothers of Israelis and the mothers of Palestinians can see their children grow up in peace."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is being pressured by the White House to embrace a two-state solution, ordered government ministers to make no public statements. However, a statement released by his office said: "We share President Obama's hope that the American effort heralds the beginning of a new era that will bring about an end to the conflict and lead to Arab recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, living in peace and security in the Middle East."
By day's end, the president was on his way to Germany, where today he will visit the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp, a gesture intended to underscore his call to Muslims to honor Israeli history, while offering reassurance of his commitment to Israel.
But Obama also appealed explicitly to the self-interest of his listeners, arguing that collaboration on Middle East peace, human rights, democratic reforms and the containment of nuclear arms would bring mutual benefits.
Although condemning the Sept. 11 attacks as an "enormous trauma" for the American people, he acknowledged that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq had been "a war of choice." His commitment to ban torture and to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was applauded. He addressed the tension between the United States and Iran, and set a goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
