U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday welcomed statements made in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech made at Bar-Ilan University on Sunday, as a sign that "we can restart serious talks" between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Obama told reporters after meeting at the White House with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, "Overall, I thought that there was positive movement in the prime minister's speech. He acknowledged the need for two states."

The American president repeated his call for a halt to communities in Judea and Samaria and pointed out that Israel and the Palestinian Authority would "have to move in some politically difficult ways in order to achieve what is going to be in the long term interests" of both. Obama did not say what it would mean on the PA side.

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