JERUSALEM
The US vice president has urged Israel to seize the opportunity for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the day of the funeral of Israel's former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Vice President Joe Biden told Israel's President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on Monday that secure states respecting each other's sovereignty and security would offer "an island of stability".
Referring to the Arab Spring as a historical phenomenon, Biden said: "This is one of those opportunities, one of those moments in history where it (peace) has to be seized."
Peres thanked Biden for his remarks, saying: "All of usare aware that we have to take the decision now, that it's tough and difficult but we have an open window and God knows when it will happen again."
He referred to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as "a serious partner, and the right one", adding that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also taking the issue seriously.
"I believe there is a serious attempt to make the right decision and there is only one – two states for two peoples," Peres said.
Peres also commended the work of US Secretary of State John Kerry saying, "I believe in his energy and his contribution. There are changes on our side and on the Arab side... The future of the Middle East will affect our future and we would like to see it successful and prosperous."
Biden was on a one-day visit to Israel to attend the funeral of Sharon who died Saturday at the age of 85, eight years after a debilitating stroke had put him into a coma.
"President Obama wanted me to be here today not merely to pay our respects to a great war hero, but a man whose life seemed to, from my perspective at least, mirror the changes that occurred in Israel since its inception as a nation," he said.
"At the very outset, the overwhelming necessity was literally to keep from being pushed into the sea by hostile neighbors that were more powerful and had larger armies and more weapons. And he (Sharon) led the fight and changed the circumstance where Israel is no longer in physical jeopardy as a consequence of being overwhelmed; Israel is a significant power in its own right."
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