Obama speaks with Abbas on Mideast peace
By KUNA
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said here Thursday that President Barack Obama spoke this morning with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Clinton told reporters that Obama discussed with Abbas “the peace process and the broader regional context,” but said she does not want “to get into the details of that call.”
She affirmed that “our goal is absolutely the same as it always has been: two states living side by side, the Palestinians having a state of their own to realize the aspirations of the Palestinian people, Israel with secure borders and normalized relations with all of their neighbors.”
“That is what this administration is working toward and that is what we are going to continue to pursue,” she stressed.
For his part, White House spokesman Jay Carney confirmed that Obama did speak with Abbas and that they discussed “the situation in Egypt, the events in Egypt, as well as the region, and issues at the Security Council.”
He affirmed that “we’re committed to moving the peace process forward,” and that “we know it’s a difficult issue.”
“If it were not, if it were easy, it would have been solved a long time ago, ” he remarked.
