President Shimon Peres told a delegation of US Senators and Congressmen Sunday, “Around us today there is a great deal of confusion, I wouldn’t even say that we know who our enemies are because we don’t know who runs the countries. All of us are terribly disturbed by the tragedy in Syria; we cannot stand to see children killed by their president.”
The President spoke about human rights and Iran with respect to the Helsinki Commission, which is co-chaired by the leader of the Congressional group, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD).
Sen. Cardin thanked President Peres for his warm welcome at his official residence and added, “We believe that security is based not just on physical security but also on economic security and the human rights issues. Our visit underscores just how important the relationship is, not just to Israel but also to the US.”
President Peres did not miss an opportunity to plug one of his favorite topics, the “peace process,” and stated, “It is time to return to the peace process. The Prime Minister repeated his commitment to the two-state solution. There is no other solution if you want peace but to enable the Palestinians to have a demilitarized state of their own.”
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas already has rejected the idea of a demilitarized PA state, which is one of the principles of the moribund Oslo Accords.