Berri: My Busy Schedule Prevented Me from Meeting Feltman

Speaker Nabih Berri stated on Saturday that his busy schedule prevented him from meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on Friday.

He explained to reporters: “I was in the South and it helped me see the clear picture when he visited various officials, whom we all trust.”

Addressing U.S. President Barack Obama’s latest speech on the region, he said that the Israeli response to Obama’s statements on the Palestinian cause is not a blow to his efforts, but they reflect the reality that the American administration is “bound to Israel’s will.”

The ongoing Israeli settlement expansion and Sunday’s Nakba Day clashes at Maroun al-Ras, the Golan Heights, and Palestinian territories “only cements our conviction that the United States constantly addresses the Middle East through Israeli eyes,” he said.