Mideast - Listen to the People

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Resumption of Middle East peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians is a major foreign policy priority of U.S. President Barack Obama's administration. On behalf of the President and Secretary of State Clinton, Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell has been working closely with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Abbas, our Arab allies in the region, and our partners in the Quartet-Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations-- to get the negotiations restarted.

But the difficulties are myriad in a region where radicals on each side create new provocations every day.

Nonetheless, according to numerous opinion polls, the vast majority of people most affected by the existing situation, both Israeli and Palestinian, yearns for a resolution to the conflict, once and for all: opinion polls of both Israelis and Palestinians have found substantial support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In June, pollsters for the One Voice Movement, an international grassroots effort aimed at amplifying moderate Israeli and Palestinian voices, questioned Israelis, as well as Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, about what they thought would be a practical working solution to the conflict. Some 71 percent of Palestinians and 77 percent of Israelis strongly believe that negotiations are a necessity, while 78 percent of Palestinians and 74 percent of Israelis feel that such negotiations should aim toward a peace agreement that leads to both states living side by side in peace and security.

Such polls demonstrate clearly that Israeli and Palestinian leaders have the support of large majorities of their constituents to resume talks and negotiate an agreement based on a two-state solution. The United States is asking all parties to take meaningful, historic steps that will help lay the foundation for the prompt resumption of productive negotiations and the early conclusion of a peace agreement establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.