Netanyahu warns Obama against peace based on illusions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned US President Barack Obama against pursuing peace in the Middle East based on "illusions". His warning came after 90 minutes of talks between the two leaders in Washington which showed a widening rift in US-Israeli ties. 

Reuters/Jim Young

In an Oval Office appearance after the meeting, Netanyahu stressed Israel would never return to its 1967 borders and laid down a set of non-negotiable conditions for peace talks. The Israeli leader then launched into a history lesson of the Jewish people while Obama watched from a nearby chair.

“A peace based on illusion will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality,” he told the US president.

Netanyahu’s comments come a day after Obama called for Israel to accept a return to territorial lines in place before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war with mutual land swaps with Palestinians to secure peace.

Netanyahu told Obama that these lines are “indefensible”.

The US president admitted that he had differences with the Israeli leader on language and formulations over the best approach to reviving peace talks stalled since last year, but saw a moment of opportunity amid the ‘Arab Spring’.

After the talks, a senior Israeli official accused Obama of raising “unreasonable expectations” that could set the peace process back “dozens of years”.