Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US President Barack Obama at the White House. He bluntly told Obama that Israel would never go back to "indefensible" 1967 borders to make peace with the Palestinians. (AFP/Jim Watson)
Posted on 05/20/2011 7:56:55 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu lectured President Barack Obama in his own office, warning him not to chase "illusions" of Middle East peace and opening a deep rift in US-Israel ties.
In a dramatic Oval Office appearance on Friday, after 90 minutes of talks, Prime Minister Netanyahu emphatically vowed Israel would never return to its 1967 borders and laid down a set of non-negotiable conditions for peace talks.
The exchange, which left hopes for Obama's peace drive more remote than ever, came a day after the US president called on Israel to accept a return to territorial lines in place before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, with mutual land swaps with Palestinians .. .
But Netanyahu seized on the notion that he was being asked to return solely to Israel's 1967 footprint, which he said was nine miles wide in places and half the size of the "Beltway" highway surrounding Washington.
"While Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines -- because these lines are indefensible," Netanyahu said, looking Obama squarely in the eye.
Israelis argue that returning to the former border configuration would leave Israeli population centers vulnerable and mean uprooting hundreds of thousands of settlers from homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Netanyahu did not however mention the second part of Obama's stipulation -- namely that land swaps between Israel and the Palestinians, would change those 1967 lines to ensure two secure, contiguous states.
The White House insisted that it had never said that Israel should return to a narrow definition of its 1967 territorial lines.
Asked whether Netanyahu was willfully misinterpreting Obama's remarks, White House spokesman Jay Carney said such an observation was "interesting."
Privately, White House officials appeared infuriated by Netanyahu's combative approach, ..
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US President Barack Obama at the White House. He bluntly told Obama that Israel would never go back to "indefensible" 1967 borders to make peace with the Palestinians. (AFP/Jim Watson)
U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, May 20, 2011. REUTERS/Jim Young
The leader took on the punk.
Combative, arrogant conversations with adults is clearly not OBozo’s strong suit...
That's just stupid. Its like me saying its 2100 hours here, but I didn't say its dark.
Odumbo deserved it. Why would a former Mossad operative take sh*t from a 3rd-class “community organizer”?
Notice who gets fingered for opening the rift.
Ah, the new Obama sycophant talking point --- "Netanyahu deliberately misrepresented the President's remarks. Obama never said that Israel would have to retreat to the pre-'67 borders."
But he did. And we all saw the tape (or read the transcript). The "Obama was misrepresented" card isn't going to work.
What a difference in their faces. PM Netanyahu has a kind face, while Obama looks like he’s stoned.
This is not the look of love...
Let me understand this? The group that asked the other group to commit suicide is infuriated that their idea was rejected? BHO and his clowns do not have a friggin clue........
Every single day that fool occupies the oval office, this country and her allies remain in grave danger. All of Western Civilization, in fact.
Actually, they do. They know precisely what they're asking for. But Unintended Consequences is what they're going to get.
Obama had his a$$ handed to him and he doesn’t like it.
“Privately, White House officials appeared infuriated by Netanyahu’s combative approach...”
More than likely, they were wetting their pants in fear.
It came immediately to mind...maybe it was the great bottle of Cabernet in the rarefied air of South Lake Tahoe
“The Punk Meets The Godfather”
From the “The Who” LP Quadropehenia, 1973
Did a member of the MSM just suggest a Clintonian way for the White House to deal with this spanking?
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