 WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told President Obama on Friday that he shared his vision for a peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and then promptly listed a series of nonnegotiable conditions that have kept the two sides at an impasse for years. As he did in his remarks on Thursday, Mr. Obama called the region’s turmoil “a moment of opportunity” to promote democracy and stability in the Middle East and North Africa, even as he acknowledged that “there are significant perils,” reflecting a widely held perception in Israel that the events have made a peace settlement riskier than ever.
– President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu said reassuring things about US-Israeli relations today, but Netanyahu's list of deal-breakers made clear the two leaders remain far apart on the elements of a peace deal with Palestinians, reports the New York Times. Notably, Netanyahu rejected Obama's suggestion of a return to 1967 borders. “Remember that before 1967, Israel was all of nine miles wide; it’s half the width of the Washington Beltway,” said Netanyahu. “These were not the boundaries of peace. They were the boundaries of repeated wars.” Nor will Israel negotiate with Hamas or accept Palestinian refugees on its soil. "We share your hope and vision for the spread of democracy in the Mideast," said Netanyahu, but he warned that "peace based on illusions will crash on Mideast reality," reports the Los Angeles Times. Obama did not pull back from his border proposal and said the ultimate goal is a "secure Israel state, a Jewish state, living side by side in peace and security with a contiguous, functioning and effective Palestinian state. Obviously there are some differences between us in the precise formulations and language, and that’s going to happen between friends."