20 May 2011 Last updated at 06:20 GMT
Israeli PM Netanyahu rejects Obama '1967 borders' view
Barack Obama: "Let's get started on a conversation about territory, and about
security"
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected comments from US President Obama
that a future Palestinian state must be based on the 1967 borders.
In a major speech to the state department, Mr Obama said "mutually agreed
swaps" would help create "a viable Palestine, and a secure Israel".
But Mr Netanyahu said those borders, which existed before the 1967 Middle East
war, were "indefensible".
Mr Netanyahu is preparing to meet Mr Obama for talks at the White House.
An estimated 300,000 Israelis live in settlements built in the West Bank, which
lies outside those borders.
The settlements are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes
this.
Seeking solutions
In Thursday's speech on the future of US policy in the Middle East, Mr Obama
said the basis of the peace negotiations was to create "a viable Palestine, and
a secure Israel".
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
image of Wyre Davies Wyre Davies BBC News, Jerusalem
In many ways the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, should be a man
content with his lot. He is on a high-profile visit to Washington where he will
be met with a firm handshake and warm words from President Barack Obama.
In a historic address to a joint-session of Congress next week, he can expect
to be repeatedly applauded as he describes how his government tirelessly
searches for peace.
And at the annual conference of Aipac - the American pro-Israel lobby - he will
be feted as a hero and beacon of light in an otherwise hostile region.
But at home, in a dramatically changing Middle East, the Israeli leader appears
increasingly out-manoeuvred and out of step with the attempts of others to
resolve the frustrating and long-standing stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
* Mid-East upheaval heaps pressure on Netanyahu
"The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with
permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent
Israeli borders with Palestine," he said.
"The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with
mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognised borders are established
for both states."
In a statement, Mr Netanyahu's office said he appreciated Mr Obama's
"commitment to peace" but that for peace to endure, "the viability of a
Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and
only Jewish state".
The statement called on Mr Obama to reaffirm commitments he made to Israel in
2004.
"Among other things, those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw
to the 1967 lines which are both indefensible and which would leave major
Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria beyond those lines," it said.
"Those commitments also ensure Israel's well-being as a Jewish state by making
clear that Palestinian refugees will settle in a future Palestinian state
rather than in Israel."
'Arab Spring'
The BBC's Wyre Davies in Jerusalem says that while Mr Netanyahu will be warmly
welcomed in the US, he is coming under increasing international pressure to
ease his objections to a Palestinian state following the unity deal signed
between rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah earlier this month.
If the unity project holds, says our correspondent, Mr Netanyahu could find
himself foundering while other countries embrace fresh Palestinian initiatives.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote
Obama didn't say anything about the suffering of the Palestinian people,
who are suffering for more than 63 years"
End Quote Mohamed Awad Hamas Foreign Minister
* Obstacles to peace: Borders and settlements
Israel's claim to being the only democratic state in the region has also been
undermined by the dramatic developments of the "Arab Spring" anti-government
uprisings, our correspondent adds.
The push for democracy began with the overthrowing of Tunisian President Zine
al-Abidine Ben Ali in January. Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was later toppled
in Egypt, with demonstrators in Libya currently working to overthrow Muammar
Gaddafi.
Similar uprisings are also taking hold in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria.
The Palestinian leadership is split between the Palestinian Authority, which is
dominated by the Fatah political faction and governs the West Bank, and the
Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is due to meet colleagues on
Friday to decide on the next move, with senior officials saying they have been
ordered not to speak to reporters beforehand.
A senior member of Hamas, Foreign Minister Mohamed Awad, told the BBC that
tangible steps were needed from the US president, not mere slogans.
"Obama didn't say anything about the suffering of the Palestinian people, who
are suffering for more than 63 years," he said.
"He didn't say that the peace process had already reached a dead end... He
tried to please everyone but he didn't try to please the Palestinian people."
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