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It is difficult to hear her audio at the moment because of the plane s engines. they cannot hear us at the moment because of that amount of noise. the families of shane bauer and josh fattal and sarah shourd did release a statement following this release of, again, the two u.s. hikers. they had said in part, quote, today can only be described as the best day of our lives. we have waited for nearly 26 months for this moment. and the joy and relief we feel at shane and josh s long-awaited freedom knows no bounds. we all want nothing more than to wrap shane and josh in our arms. catch up on two lost years, and make a new beginning for them all, and for all of us. for now we would like the thank his majesty, the sultan of oman and his envoy. their lawyer as well. that s just part of the statement that came from the ....
that we seek. the question is, how do we reach that goal? and i am convinced that there is no shortcut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. peace is hard work. peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the united nations. if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. ultimately, it is the israelis and the palestinians who must live side by side. immediately after that speech, the president met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who called the american position a, quote, badge of honor. the president meets this evening with president abbas. that brings me to my colleague, wolf blitzer, reporting today from new york. hi there, wolf. let s talk about this a little bit. assuming the u.s. uses its veto in the u.n. security council, what could happen? what are the alternatives here? the u.s. is hoping, randi, as you know it s not going to have to use the veto any time soon. they re hoping they can work on some ....
united nations building in new york. let s go straight to mohammed jamjo jamjoom. how close are these two americans from touching down where you are? reporter: well, brooke, we re here at the royal airport. armani officials are saying that the plane should touch down within the next 20 to 30 minutes. we also learned from the families of josh fattal and shane bauer that the families are indeed here, that sarah shourd, the third american hiker who was detained along with the two men and the fiancee of shane bauer, she s here as well. they re eagerly awaiting the reunion. we do not see any of the families yet or any of the hikers. but clearly there s a sense of anticipation here. we got word two hours ago the omani officials were involved in a negotiation to secure the release of the two hikers. not too much surprise considering there was some anticipation that they would be involved, that they paid the bail because last year when sarah shourd was released, nad her bail ....
for state hood. this hour, the president is expected to meet with palestinian authority president abbas. he held a separate meeting just a little while ago with benjamin netanyahu. let s bring in our chief white house correspondent, jessica yellin. she s covering this from new york. the president also delivered a major address before the u.n. general assembly. that s rig, wolf. the palestinians continue pressing their case here at the united nations and it was the most dramatic issue the president addressed in his speech today with repeated the theme, peace is hard. the president trumpeted progress at the end of this year, america s military operation in iraq will be over. osama bin laden is gone. and warned of challenges ahead. where we stand with the syrian people or their oppressors. what so many were listening for was this. we seek a future where palestinians live in a sovereign sate of their own. how would we explain his opposition to the palestinia ....