Full transcript here, provided by the White House, of President Barack Obama’s interview with the Al-Arabiya television network.
The President: Well, I think the most important thing is for the United States to get engaged right away. And George Mitchell is somebody of enormous stature. He is one of the few people who have international experience brokering peace deals.
And so what I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating — in the past on some of these issues — and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved. So let’s listen.
He’s going to be speaking to all the major parties involved. And he will then report back to me. From there we will formulate a specific response.
…we are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest, then I think that we can make significant progress.