WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat alongside President Barack Obama on Friday and declared that Israel would not withdraw to 1967 borders to help make way for an adjacent Palestinian state. Obama had called on Israel to be willing to do just that a day earlier. The Israeli leader said he would make some concessions but Israel would not go back to the lines from decades earlier because they would be “indefensible.” For his part, Obama said that there were differences of formulations and language but that such disputes are going to happen “between friends.” The president never mentioned the 1967 borders as the two men talked with reporters. The leaders spoke after a lengthy meeting in the Oval Office, amid tense times. “We cannot go back to those indefensible lines,” said Netanyahu. Both Obama and Netanyahu said they shared a desire to get to peace and played down disagreements. “We may have differences here and there,” Netanyahu said. But there was no sign of resolution of the many barriers that stand between Israel and the Palestinians. Netanyahu said his nation could not negotiate with a newly constituted Palestinian unity government that includes the Hamas movement, which refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist. He said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had to choose between continuing the deal with Hamas and making peace with Israel. Another major stumbling block is how to resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees. Palestinians demands a “right of return” of large numbers of refugees and descendants to Israel, but Israeli leaders say this would dilute the Jewish presence in Israel so that it would no longer be the Jewish state that Netanyahu demands and Obama supports. “That's not going to happen,” Netanyahu said. He said Palestinians need to recognize that, and also said that Israel would not budge on its need for troops on the border with Jordan. Palestinians reacted angrily. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu's comments were tantamount to “his total rejection of the Obama vision and speech.” “I don't think we can talk about a peace process with a man who says the 1967 lines are an illusion,” Erekat said.
