US President says in major speech Arab revolts show repression no longer works and reiterates that US commitment to Israel’s security ’unshakeable’

US President Barack Obama said Thursday that the uprisings sweeping the Arab world show that a policy of repression will no longer work as people seek to win their freedom and human rights. He also warned in a speech at the State Department that Al-Qaeda's agenda of "extremism" was now seen as a "dead-end" in Arab nations.

REPRESSION WILL NOT WORK
Obama said that the events of the past few months have shown that repression will no longer work in the region. "The events of the past six months show us that strategies of repression and strategies of aversion will not work anymore," Obama said, as he denounced the "relentless tyranny of governments that deny their citizens dignity."
  
He described what he called a "story of self-determination" which began six months ago in Tunisia, when a young vendor set himself on fire to protest the police confiscation of his cart. "There are times in the course of history when the actions of ordinary citizens spark movements for change because they speak to a longing for freedom that has been building up for years," Obama said.
  
BIN LADEN MASS MURDERER, NOT MARTYR
The US president hailed the killing earlier this month of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who he stressed was not a martyr, but a mass murderer. Obama said bin Laden had "rejected democracy and individual rights for Muslims in favor of violent extremism; his agenda focused on what he could destroy not what he could build."
  
"But even before his death, Al-Qaeda was losing its struggle for relevance, as the overwhelming majority of people saw that the slaughter of innocents did not answer their cries for a better life. By the time we found bin Laden, Al-Qaeda's agenda had come to be seen by the vast majority of the region as a dead end, and the people of the Middle East and North Africa had taken their future into their own hands."

ASSAD MUST LEAD TRANSITION OR GET OUT
Turning to Syria’s latest developments, Obama claimed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must lead a political transition or "get out of the way".
  
"President Assad now has a choice. He can lead that transition or get out of the way. The Syrian government must stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests," Obama said.

The US President also said that the Syrian people have shown courage to transition to democracy. He urged the Syrian government to stop what he called unjustified arrests of protesters and called on Assad to hear the ‘democratic demands’ of his people.

SALEH NEEDS TO FOLLOW THROUGH
Obama called on the governments of Bahrain and Yemen to work with their opposition parties to resolve the unrest which has rocked their countries for months.
  
"We must acknowledge that our friends in the region have not all reacted to the demands for change consistent with the principles" of human rights and freedoms, Obama said.
  
He singled out Yemen saying President Ali Abdullah Saleh "needs to follow through on his commitment to transfer power."

BAHRAINI GOV’T, OPPOSITION MUST ENGAGE IN DIALOGUE
Turning to Bahrain, another key regional ally, Obama called for dialogue between the ruling party and the opposition. "We have insisted publicly and privately that mass arrests and brute force are at odds with the universal rights of Bahrain's citizens. The only way forward is for the government and opposition to engage in a dialogue, and you can't have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful opposition are in jail," the US leader said.
  
"The government must create the conditions for dialogue, and the opposition must participate to forge a just future for all Bahrainis," he stressed.

BORDERS SHOULD BE BASED ON 1967 LINES
The Arab-Israeli conflict was raised by Obama, who said for the first time that the borders of Israel and a future Palestinian state should be based on 1967 lines and be completed with land swaps. "The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states," Obama claimed.
  
"The full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign, non-militarized state."

"The duration of this transition period must be agreed, and the effectiveness of security arrangements must be demonstrated."

US COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL UNSHAKEABLE
While saying that a future Palestinian state must be 'non-militarized', Obama claimed that Palestinians will not achieve peace by denying Israel's right to exist.

He acknowledged, however, that US commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable, and said that the Palestinian drive for state recognition at UN will not work. He suggested that the US will oppose UN acts against Israel in September 2011.

Obama concluded that the Mideast peace needs creation of a viable Palestine and secure Israel. He claimed that future of Jerusalem and fate of Palestinian refugees are keys to such solution. He said ultimately it is up to the Israelis and Palestinians to take action.

US MUST CHANGE POLICY IN REGION
In his speech, the US President also said that the United States must change its policy or face a deepening rift with the Arab world. "A failure to change our approach threatens a deepening spiral of division between the United States and the Arab world," Obama said.

He stressed that the United States must use all its influence to encourage reform in the region, but added that reform does not come at the ballot box alone.

He said that the US supports the rights of minority, especially religious ones. According to Obama, Coptic Christians must have the right to worship freely in Cairo and mosques must not be destroyed in Bahrain. Sectarian divides need not lead to fragmentation and unrest in nations, he warned.

Obama also said that US supports gender equality in the Middle East and North Africa. He said that economic welfare key to achieving democracy in region's countries and announced an economic plan forgiving $1 billion of Egypt's debt.