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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43106082/ns/politics-white_house
WASHINGTON — In a tense Oval Office meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat alongside President Barack Obama on Friday and declared that Israel would not withdraw to the 1967 borders to help make way for an adjacent Palestinian state.
Obama had called on Israel to be willing to do just that in a speech the 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 are "indefensible."
Obama listened with a strained look on his face.
For his part, Obama said there were differences of formulations and language but said such disputes are going to happen "between friends."
The president never mentioned the 1967 borders in his comments to reporters.
The two men spoke to the press after a lengthy meeting at the White House. Obama said in his speech on Thursday that the United States supports creation of a Palestinian state, with talks based on the border lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War, in which Israel forces occupied east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Obama's speech deeply angered Israel.
"We value your efforts to advance the peace process," Netanyahu said after the meeting. "Israel wants peace, I want peace. ... We want a peace that will endure. ... For there to be peace, Palestinians cannot expect Israel to go back to the 1967 lines."
"We can't go back to the lines. ... I discussed this with the president."
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