After a closed-door 90-meeting in the Oval Office lasted far longer than expected today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama emerged to brief reporters on their, ahem, progress. And in a rare public rebuke, Netanyahu-serious told Obama and the world straight up: Any return to the 1967 borders with Palestine is out of the question and indefensible. Watch what the Wall Street Journal describes as an "awkward moment":
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MSNBC says Netanyahu's comments, in which he warned against "a peace based on illusions," sounded more "like a recitation of the many barriers to peace than an explanation of why there should be any reason for optimism." The two leaders took no questions, but in a press conference following the episode, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was unable to point to any concrete signs of progress. Israel refuses to negotiate with a Palestinian government comprised of the mainstream Fatah faction led by Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, which governs Gaza and is seen by both the U.S. and Israel as an illegitimate terrorist government.
Carney did say that Obama's stance on the pre-1967 lines just "made explicit a long-standing U.S. position during previous talks on a future Palestinian state. That is a formulation that has been understood." But he said Obama "felt it was important to articulate that." The Washington Post has some interesting background intrigue on Obama's Mideast speech Thursday; officials say the Israelis weren't aware of the speech until a few hours before it was delivered, and when they learned about the pre-1967 border part, Netanyahu reportedly "had a tense phone call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton... causing Mr. Obama's speech to begin 35 minutes late."
