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The Israeli prime minister and the president meet in the White House.
Israel wants "real" peace, not a piece
of paper, Netanyahu tells Obama.
Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel
sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu met with U.S. President
Barack Obama in the Oval Office
on Monday, pushing back against pres-
sure from the White House to swiftly
cut a deal with the Palestinians as the
president warned time was running out
for peace.
"Israel has been doing its part, and
I regret to say that the Palestinians
haven't:' Netanyahu said to Obama, in
front of the press prior to their private
meeting.
"What we want is peace — not a
piece of paper:' he said.
Netanyahu called for a "real peace
... based on mutual recognition:' and
chided his Palestinian counterparts for
promoting "incessant violence" against
the Jewish state.
"Israel, the Jewish state, is the real-
ization of the Jewish people's right to
self-determination:' Netanyahu said. "I
think it's about time they recognized a
nation state for the Jewish people.
"We've only been here for about
4,000 years:'
Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime
minister to formally call on the
Palestinians to recognize Israel as the
Jewish homeland — what he has called
the "minimal requirement" for peace.
"The only peace that will endure is a
peace that we can defend:' he added.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
and Vice President Joe Biden stood
in the room as the two leaders spoke.
Netanyahu thanked Kerry for his efforts
over the past several months, which he
called "tireless:'
"When I say tireless:' he quipped, "I
mean tireless:'
A nine-month deadline on talks
set by the U.S. will expire next month
unless all parties agree to extend nego-
tiations.
After the public statements,
Netanyahu met privately for three hours
with Obama, Biden and members of
the president's national security team.
Later, the prime minister held meetings
on Capitol Hill.
At the White House press meeting,
Obama praised Netanyahu for par-
ticipating in "very lengthy, painstaking
negotiations" over the course of eight
months and recognized that Israel would
not accept a peace accord that failed to
recognize its strategic security needs.
"It's my belief that ultimately it is still
possible to create two states, a Jewish
state of Israel and a state of Palestine in
which people are living side-by-side in
peace and security:' said Obama.
"But ifs difficult, and it requires com-
promise on all sides.
"The time frame that we have set up
for completing these negotiations is
coming near and some tough decisions
are going to have to be made said the
president.
In a blunt interview with the presi-
dent on Thursday, Bloomberg's Jeffrey
Goldberg said Obama indicated Israel
could face a bleak future — one of
international isolation and demo-
graphic disaster — if Netanyahu
refuses to endorse a U.S.-drafted frame-
work agreement for peace with the
Palestinians.
Obama said if Netanyahu "does
not believe that a peace deal with the
Palestinians is the right thing to do for
Israel, then he needs to articulate an
alternative approach:'
Upon his arrival in the U.S.,
Netanyahu vowed to resist pressure.
"For us to have an agreement, we must
uphold our vital interests. I have proven
that I do so, in the face of all pressures
and all the turmoil — and I will con-
tinue to do so here as well," he said.
Also at the White House on Monday,
Netanyahu said Iran remained the
greatest challenge to Israel, affirming
that his government would not accept
an Iranian "ability" to acquire nuclear
weapons.
As its prime minister, he was pre-
pared to protect Israel from existential
threats by any means necessary, he
asserted.
That line — between Iran's obtain-
ing nuclear weapons versus nuclear
weapons capacity — remains a stick-
ing point in efforts to synthesize the
positions of Israel and the U.S. as
negotiations begin in Vienna between
world powers and Iran on its nuclear
program.
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