President Barack Obama on Wednesday during his final press conference, delivered a lengthy response when a reporter asked him about the recent U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, which describes Israeli settlements as illegal. The United States abstained from the Dec. 23 vote, thereby enabling the resolution to pass. Here are the outgoing president’s remarks in full:
“I continue to be significantly worried about the Palestinian issue. And I am worried about it both because I think the status quo is unsustainable, that it is dangerous for Israel, that it is bad for Palestinians, bad for the region, bad for America’s national security.
“And I came into this office wanting to do everything I could to encourage serious peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, and we invested a lot of energy, a lot of time, a lot of effort, the first year, the second year, all the way until last year. Ultimately, what has always been clear, is we cannot force parties to arrive at peace. What we can do is facilitate, provide a platform, encourage, but we can’t force them to do it.
“But in light of shifts in Israeli politics and Palestinian politics, a rightward drift in Israeli politics, a weakening of [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas’ ability to move and take risks on behalf of peace in the Palestinian territories, in light of all the dangers that have emerged in the regions and the understandable fears Israelis may have — chaos and the rise of groups like ISIL and the deterioration of Syria — in light of all those things, what we at least wanted to do, understanding the two parties would not arrive at a final status agreement, is preserve the possibility of a two-state solution because we don’t see an alternative to it.
“I’ve said directly to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu], I’ve said it inside of Israel and I’ve said it to Palestinians as well: I don’t see how this issue gets resolved in a way that maintains Israel as both Jewish and a democracy because if you do not have two states, then in some form or fashion, extending an occupation, functionally you end up having one state in which millions of people are disenfranchised and operate as second-class occupants — residents — you can’t even call them ‘citizens,’ necessarily.
“So the goal of the [Security Council] resolution is to simply say settlements — the growth of settlements — are creating a reality on the ground that increasingly will make a two-state solution impossible. And we’ve believed, consistent with the position taken previously by U.S. administrations for decades now, it was important for us to send a signal — a wake-up call — that this moment may be passing, and Israeli voters and Palestinians need to understand this moment may be passing and hopefully that then creates a debate inside both Israeli and Palestinian communities.
“It won’t result immediately in peace but will at least lead to a more sober assessment of what the alternatives are.”
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