June 11, 2009


Thank you, Mr. Foreign Minister. The President and the Secretary of State have made American policy clear. We are working hard to achieve our objective, a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, including a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel, and also including peace between Israel and its other immediate neighbors and full normalization of relations between Israel and all of the Arab nations as contemplated by the Arab peace initiative, which as the president has said, is an important proposal that we are seeking to integrate fully into our efforts.

We are especially grateful to the leadership of the government of Egypt, President Mubarak, Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit, General Soliman and others in assisting all of the people in the region to move forward to achieve this objective. I especially thank the foreign minister for his continuing courtesy and hospitality and for the intensive efforts that this government has made in the region.

Israelis and Palestinians have responsibility to meet their obligations under the roadmap. It is not just their responsibility. We believe it is in their interest as well.

It is also in the interests of all who seek peace, Americans, Europeans, Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs and all others, to support this effort through tangible steps and meaningful actions.

We all share an obligation to help to create the conditions for the prompt resumption and the early conclusion of negotiations to achieve a two state solution. As President Obama said here in Cairo just last week, the Arab states have an important role to play. As I said earlier, we regard the Arab peace initiative as an important proposal that we are trying to integrate into our effort. Proposing the imitative was just the beginning. It brings with it responsibilities to join in taking meaningful steps and important actions that will help us move towards our objective.

We look forward to working with the foreign minister and with the government of Egypt, with other countries in the region, to achieve the objectives that we all share, comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

Thank you very much.