PH Statement on United States’ Peace Plan called

"Vision for Peace, Prosperity, and a Brighter Future for Israel and the Palestinian People"

The Philippines welcomes the  United States’ peace plan, called “Vision for Peace, Prosperity, and a Brighter Future for Israel and the Palestinian People,” as a sincere effort to achieve peace in the Middle East without which there can be no prospect of prosperity and a bright future. We understand it to be a negotiating text and the US President has wisely cautioned that nothing be done to change the situation on the ground before negotiations begin and progress. Nothing is lost by sitting down and talking. It is a starting point and not the end.

The Philippines has committed itself to the two-state solution as envisioned by the United Nations, and remains committed to the two-state solution. There just can’t be any other. Both sides have shown a limitless capacity for endurance.

The Philippines recognizes the Israel-Palestinian conflict as the core of the problem in the Middle East. The Philippines supports the peaceful implementation of all United Nations initiatives towards the resolution of the Middle East conflict, and supports all efforts to revive the Middle East Peace process articulated in the Quartet’s Roadmap to Peace.

The Philippine position on the Question of Palestine has been consistent with its principled commitment to the policy of “two states for two peoples” as the only viable solution to the conflict between the
Palestinians and Israel, demonstrated in its vote in favor of the Partition Plan for Palestine in the United Nations in 1947.    

The Philippines’ pattern of votes in the United Nations General Assembly and United Nations Security Council has always demonstrated the country’s goal of peaceful settlement of the conflict and the continuation of the peace process. The Philippines has consistently voted for resolutions that would speed up the peace process, end conflict, and above all ease the suffering of the victims. The Philippines views the US peace plan as the latest effort in those directions: sincere negotiations, a respite from conflict while they take place, and hopefully a just and lasting peace and the end of suffering. The Philippines hopes it is given a chance. END