Press Conference with PA President Mahmoud Abbas Before Annapolis Conference
(November 26, 2007)
PRESIDENT
BUSH: Mr. President, welcome.
PRESIDENT
ABBAS: Thank you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: It's good to have you back here in the Oval
Office. Thank you for coming, and thank you for working hard to
implement a vision for a Palestinian state.
We want to help you. We want there to be peace. We want the
people in the Palestinian Territories to have hope. And we thank you
for your willingness to sit down with Israel to negotiate the
settlement.
The United States cannot impose our vision, but we can help
facilitate. And the process will begin tonight at the State
Department, and then on to Annapolis tomorrow. And I want to thank you
for coming. Wish you all the very best.
PRESIDENT ABBAS: (As translated.) I am delighted to have the
opportunity to meet with President Bush after his invitation and this
historic initiative that he launched to convene the Annapolis
Conference. We have a great deal of hope that this conference will
produce a permanent status negotiations, expanded negotiations, over
all permanent status issues that would lead to a peace agreement
between Israel and the Palestinian people, an agreement to secure
security and stability.
President Bush's initiative is a great initiative. We will
continue to rely on his support and the support of the United States
and his administration in order to achieve the intended objective.
Thank you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir.
Sources: The White House |