A/S Feltman Remarks at the Arab League

May 25, 2011

I was very pleased today that Secretary General of the Arab League, His Excellency Amr Moussa, was able to receive me. I wanted to take this opportunity on behalf of my government to talk to His Excellency the Secretary General about President Obama’s views about changes in this region: changes that were sparked in large part because of the voices of the Egyptian people and other people around the region asking for human rights and democracy.

U.S. President Obama gave an important speech on May 19th talking about how we in the United States see it as in our interest to support the democratic aspirations of people in the region. So I wanted to have the chance to compare notes with His Excellency the Secretary General about this emphasis in our foreign policy, about our support for democratic reform, our rejection of violence against citizens, and our standing with the aspirations of the people in the Middle East for a better future.

Of course, we also took the opportunity to discuss regional issues. I talked about the President’s references to a way forward on Israeli-Palestinian peace, his reference to the fact that the border between Israel and Palestine needs to be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, with assurances for Israel’s security. We talked about a number of other developments in the region as well.

The last time I was in Cairo, the last time I was here in the Arab League was in December. So much has happened since December, and we had the opportunity to talk about a lot. Thank you.