BICOM

The President of the United States yesterday delivered his final speech to the United Nations’ (UN) General Assembly in office, and called on Palestinian and Israeli leaders to take steps towards better relations.

Much of President Barak Obama’s speech was devoted to an overall assessment of global relations. However, in one section he directly addressed relations between Israel and the Palestinians.

He said: “surely, Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognise the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel recognises that it cannot permanently occupy and settle on Palestinian land.”

Obama is today scheduled to meet Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Netanyahu himself will address the forum tomorrow. Speaking before his departure to New York, Netanyahu said that his speech would call for a uniform, international approach to terror.

He said: “The entire international community says that it needs to fight terror with determination, and they must also support Israel’s uncompromisingly determined fight against terror.”

Also speaking yesterday at the UN General Assembly, Egypt’s President al-Sisi renewed his appeal for direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians within the context of a wider regional rapprochement. Al-Sisi made a surprising public call for such an initiative in May and appeared to repeat his request yesterday.

Deviating from his prepared text, al-Sisi said: “We have a real opportunity, to write a bright page in the history of our region to move toward peace.”

He called for the establishment of “a Palestinian state side-by-side the Israeli state” along the lines of the Arab Peace Initiative, which would provide a framework for a wider peace between Israel and the Arab world.

Meanwhile, France’s President Francois Hollande told reporters at the UN General Assembly that Paris still intends to hold an Israeli-Palestinian peace conference by the end of 2016.

He said: “We had a working group and that is going to continue during the General Assembly to ensure that we can have a conference in December.”