palestinians will never know the pride and dignity that comes with their own state. israelis will never know the certainty and security that comes with sovereign and stable neighbors that are committed to co existence. the hard realities of demography will take hold. more blood will be shed. this holy land will remain a symbol of our differences instead of our common humanity. i refuse to accept that future. and we all have a choice to make. each of us must choose the path of peace. of course, that responsibility begins with the parties themselves, who must answer the call of history. earlier this month at the white house i was struck by the words of both the israeli and palestinian leaders.
or the young boy who wants to sleep without the nightmare of rocket fire. this time we should draw upon the teachings of tolerance that line the heart of three great religions that see jerusalem soil as sacred. it s time we should reach for what s best within ourselves. if we do, when we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the united nations, an independent, sovereign state of palestinian living in peace with israel. it is our destiny to bear the burdens of the challenges that i ve addressed. recession and war and conflict.
response. today we honor those from the u.n. family who lost their lives in the earthquake. and commit ourselves to stand with the people of haiti until they can stand on their own two feet. amidst this upheaval, we have also been persistent in our pursuit of peace. last year i pledged my best efforts to support the goal of two states. israel and palestine. living side by side in peace and security as part of a comprehensive peace between israel and all of its neighbors. we have traveled a winding road over the last 12 months with few peaks and many valleys. but this month i am pleased that we have pursued direct negotiations between israelis and palestinians in washington,
and israelis, as well a very strong defense of israel. secreta secretary-general moon s big push was a nod to that and, of course a tweak at iran, but a very strong and broad call to action across the globe. do you think it is a call to action, rick, that is going to be heard? we know the audience is there in the hall, but who is going to be listening around the world? actually, the world does listen to the united states. sorry. that s okay. rick, what is your thought on that? well, you know, i was struck. there is a lot in here, a lot of presidents say, you know, a lot of language to hug it out and let s all be nice at the u.n. but i was struck on a couple things. one, obama seemed to really take ownership of the global financial crisis. he really wanted to say that it was america s fault and i was struck by his language that he used. he also then took responsibility to rebuild the world s economy. i think for an american
difficult circumstances is far greater than those who fire rockets at innocent women and children. the conflict between israelis and arabs is as old as this institution and we can come back here next year as we have for the last 60 years and make long speeches about it. we can read familiar lists of grievances. we can table the same resolutions. we can further empower the forces of rejectionism and hate and we can waste more time by carrying forward an argument that will help not a single israeli or palestinian child achieve a better life. we can do that. or we can say that this time will be different. that this time we will not let terror or turbulence or petty politics stand in the way. this time we will think not of ourselves, but of the young girl in gaza who wants to have no ceiling on her dreams.