December 3, 2007

THE PRESIDENT: It's been my honor and the honor of key members of my administration to welcome Minister Abu Daqqa here. She's the Minister of Youth for the Palestinians. I also want to welcome friends, business leaders, community activists¹ who are committed to a public-private partnership² to help the Palestinian government provide hope, particularly for the young -- she's the Minister of Youth.

And so Walter Isaacson and the other leaders here have outlined a strategy to us as to how we can make sure our USAID money and our OPIC money can be leveraged³ with private participation⁴ to help the Palestinians develop a civil society that is a key part of making sure that the vision of two states living side by side in peace becomes a reality.

And so Madam Minister, you're seeing the best of America. You're seeing private citizens who care deeply about peace come together with a government that is dedicated⁵ to a two-state solution to develop a strategy to help you succeed.

And one of the things that interests me a lot is the fact that we are going to help the Palestinians develop youth centers, places where young Palestinians can come and learn new technical skills, or language skills, or have mentoring⁶ programs -- all aimed at saying there is a hopeful future; a future where you don't have to adhere to violence; a future where radicalism⁷ is not in your sights; a future where peace is possible.

And so we're proud you're here in America. We want to thank you for your commitment to living side by side with Israel in peace. You have a friend here in the United States to help you achieve this objective.

And I want to thank my fellow citizens for being so spirited, but you're willing to take time out of your busy lives to help this young democracy get up on its feet and eventually lead to peace that we all are so hopeful for.

Thank you very much.

END 2:28 P.M. EST