President Abbas: (Interpreted.) In the name of God,
the most gracious, the most merciful --
Your Excellency, Mr. President and dear friend,
Donald Trump, it's my pleasure to welcome you here
in Palestine and receive you as a great guest of our
people here in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus --
peace be upon Him -- from which the message of love,
peace, and tolerance has spread out all across the globe.
Allow me at the beginning to condemn the horrible
terrorist attack that occurred in Manchester city --
the British city of Manchester --
leaving tens of casualties and innocent people.
I do offer my warm condolences to the Prime Minister
of Britain, families of victims, and the British people.
Your Excellency, meeting you in the White House
early this month has given us and our Palestinian
people, as well as also giving all the nations
across the region so much hope and optimism
of the possibility to make true a dream, a long-awaited dream
and ambition, and that is lasting
and justice-based peace.
Our Palestinian people's attainment of their freedom
and independence is the key to peace
and stability in the world so that the children
of Palestine and Israel enjoy a safe, stable,
and prosperous future.
I would like to reiterate, Your Excellency, Mr. President,
our commitment to cooperate
with you in order to make peace and forge
a historic peace deal with the Israelis.
And we would like to reassert our willingness
to continue to work with you as partners
in fighting terrorism in our region and in the world.
In this respect, I commend the importance
of the holding of the Arab Islamic American Summit
and its findings and outcomes and conclusions.
Your Excellency, Mr. President, once again
we reassert to you our positions of accepting
the two-state solution along the borders of 1967 --
the state of Palestine with its capital as East Jerusalem,
living alongside the state of Israel in peace and security
and good neighborhood,
as well as resolving the entire final status issues
based on international law
and international long-term resolutions,
and respecting side agreements which sets the tone
for the implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative
in accordance with what has been reaffirmed
in the most recent Arab Summit in Jordan.
Your Excellency, as you have witnessed during your --
as you saw yesterday during your historic visit
of holy sites in occupied East Jerusalem, and today
in Bethlehem, the conflict is not between religions,
for respecting religions and prophets
is an integral part of our religion and faith.
And we are keen to keep the door open to dialogue
with our Israeli neighbors from all walks of life
in order to boost confidence and create a genuine
peace opportunity.
Our fundamental problem is with the occupation
and settlements, and failure of Israel to recognize
the state of Palestine in the same way we recognize it,
which undermines the realization
of the two-state solution.
The problem is not between us and Judaism.
It's between us and occupation.
I would like to draw the attention to the issue
of our Palestinian prisoners, who have been on hunger
strike for more than one month, meters away from here
in the vicinity of the Church of the Nativity.
And everywhere, all across Palestine, families,
mothers of prisoners, suffer from being denied
visits to their children.
And their demands are humane and just.
I demand the Israeli government to meet these
humane, legitimate demands.
Achievement of peace, Your Excellency, the President,
will give us broad horizons and prospects
to recover our economy and continue building
our national institutions based on rule of law
and in the spirit of tolerance and coexistence,
and a culture of peace, nonviolence, no incitement,
and building bridges instead
of walls inside our lands.
Once again, I greet you with the warmest regards,
Your Excellency, the President,
and your accompanying delegation.
I welcome you in Palestine, the Holy Land,
wishing you success in your important tour,
which will lead you to meeting His Holiness, the Pope,
Francis, and whose efforts -- whose dedicated,
devoted efforts for peace we appreciate.
Wishing you and the friendly American people
a lifetime of health and happiness.
(In English.) Mr. President, Donald Trump, (inaudible)
to achieve peace between
the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Mr. President, I extend my hand to you in welcome
on this noble and (inaudible) mission.
(Applause.)
President Trump: Thank you very much.
As President of the United States, on behalf
of the people of the United States, I would like
to begin by offering my prayers to the people
of Manchester in the United Kingdom.
I extend my deepest condolences to those
so terribly injured in this terrorist attack,
and to the many killed, and the families --
so many families -- of the victims.
We stand in absolute solidarity with the people
of the United Kingdom.
So many young, beautiful, innocent people living
and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers
in life.
I won't call them monsters because they would
like that term.
They would think that's a great name.
I will call them from now on losers because that's
what's they are.
They're losers.
And we'll have more of them.
But they're losers -- just remember that.
This is what I've spent these last few days
talking about during my trip overseas.
Our society can have no tolerance for this
continuation of bloodshed, we cannot stand a moment
longer for the slaughter of innocent people.
And in today's attack, it was mostly innocent children.
The terrorists and extremists, and those
who give them aid and comfort, must be driven out from
our society forever.
This wicked ideology must be obliterated --
and I mean completely obliterated --
and innocent life must be protected.
All innocent lives.
Life must be protected.
All civilized nations must join together to protect
human life and the sacred right of our citizens
to live in safety and in peace.
I want to offer my deep appreciation to the Palestinians
and President Abbas for hosting me today.
It's an honor to join you in Bethlehem -- the city
that is precious to people from all over the world.
It's a precious city.
As I discussed with President Abbas
in Washington earlier this month, I am committed
to trying to achieve a peace agreement between
the Israelis and the Palestinians and I intend
to do everything I can to help them achieve that goal.
President Abbas assures me he is ready to work toward
that goal in good faith.
And Prime Minister Netanyahu has promised the same.
I look forward to working with these leaders toward
a lasting peace.
I also look forward to working with President
Abbas on other important matters, such as unlocking
the potential of the Palestinian economy --
which is having a very rough time -- and building
on our very positive counterterrorism efforts.
Several days ago, in Saudi Arabia, I met with
the leaders of the Muslim world and Arab nations
from all across the region.
It was an epic gathering.
It was a historic event.
King Salman of Saudi Arabia could not have been
kinder, and I will tell you, he's a very wise, wise man.
I called on these leaders and asked them to join
in a partnership to drive terrorism from their midst
once and for all.
It was a deeply productive meeting.
People have said there has really never been anything
even close in history.
I believe that.
Being there and seeing who was there and hearing
the spirit and a lot of love -- there has never been
anything like that in history.
And it was an honor to be involved.
But great things can come from that meeting.
I was gratified that President Abbas joined
the summit and committed to taking firm but necessary
steps to fight terrorism and confront its hateful ideology.
And it's so interesting that our meeting took
place on this very horrible morning of death
to innocent young people.
Peace can never take root in an environment where
violence is tolerated, funded and even rewarded.
We must be resolute in condemning such acts
in a single, unified voice.
Peace is a choice we must make each day --
and the United States is here to help make that dream
possible for young Jewish, Christian and Muslim children
all across the region.
In so doing, we will all enjoy a safer and brighter
future, and a safer and brighter world.
In this spirit of hope, we come to Bethlehem,
asking God for a more peaceful, safe, and far more
tolerant world for all of us.
I am truly hopeful that America can help Israel
and the Palestinians forge peace, and bring new hope
to the region and its people.
I also firmly believe that if Israel
and the Palestinians can make peace, it will begin
a process of peace all throughout the Middle East.
And that would be an amazing accomplishment.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
(Applause.)