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NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC welcomed President Barack Obama's call today for immediate negotiations toward a comprehensive settlement in the Middle East based upon Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side in peace and security. Addressing the UN General Assembly, the President also stated that Iran would be "held to account" if it continued its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"President Obama's maiden speech to the General Assembly was a vital reaffirmation of American values and American goals," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "The President underscored the importance of a world order based upon mutual respect and the sanctity of human rights. In the Middle East, that means an end to incitement against Israel - which, as the President pointed out, is all too often fanned by nations sitting in the very body he was addressing. It also means a clear message to Iran that its pursuit of nuclear weapons must end now."

Commenting on President Obama's statement that the United States does not accept the "legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements" in the West Bank, Harris said: "As the President knows, Israel has consistently proved its commitment to a peace based on territorial compromise. In 2005, Israel withdrew from the entirety of Gaza as well as certain outposts on the West Bank."

"While Israeli settlements are one of several key topics for negotiations, they must not be a precondition for engaging in talks," Harris said. "Indeed, they have never been, even as Israelis and Palestinians negotiated the 1993 Oslo Accords and held subsequent talks straight through the the Olmert-Abbas negotiations earlier this year. What the President's bold vision for peace requires most of all is the full acceptance of Israel's legitimacy by its neighbors."