Obama calls for Mideast peace at UN

The president used his address to the General Assembly to call on Israelis and Palestinians to put aside decades of mistrust.

Barack Obama said yesterday that a year from now the UN should be welcoming a new member to its ranks. It’s his goal to create a Palestinian state within a year, and the U.S. recently brokered a fresh round of peace talks between the two parties. Obama urged Israel to extend its freeze on building settlements on land in East Jerusalem which Palestinians claim as their own. The 10-month moratorium expires on Sunday, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated he will not extend it. The president also reached out to Iran, saying “the door remains open to diplomacy” as long as the country can demonstrate its controversial nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes.