Obama gives speech opposing Palestinian U.N. bid

In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama laid out his reasons for opposing the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood through the U.N. Security Council, The New York Times reports.

“Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N.,” Obama said. “If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now.”

Obama was in a tough spot because, as the Times reports, "last year, Mr. Obama stood before the General Assembly and delivered an impassioned call for Palestinian statehood within the next year, to be recognized, he said, in the United Nations—the very same place where Mr. Obama is now, this year, trying to foil that same bid." In his speech, the President said the international community should keep pushing the Israelis and Palestinians to hold talks.

“This body, founded, as it was, out of the ashes of war and genocide; dedicated, as it is, to the dignity of every person, must recognize the reality that is lived by both the Palestinians and the Israelis,” Obama said. “We will only succeed in that effort if we can encourage the parties to sit down together, to listen to each other, and to understand each other’s hopes and fears. That is the project to which America is committed, and that is what the United Nations should be focused on in the weeks and months to come.”

Reuters reports that members of the General Assembly "listened politely but without enthusiasm."

After the speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Obama's remarks a “badge of honor," according to the Times.

But Yasser Abed Rabbo, a key aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters he was disappointed.

"There is a gap between praising the struggle of Arab peoples for the sake of freedom and between an abstract call for negotiations between us and the Israelis … Freedom should cover the [whole] region," Rabbo said.

Meanwhile, CNN reports that Abbas will submit a letter to the Security Council on Friday, requesting formal U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood.

"We do not think of this as a tactic or as a bluff," Palestinian official Dr. Nabil Shaath told reporters. "This is really a moment of truth."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who met with Abbas on Wednesday, promised to take the request "very seriously."