Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the White House Friday and promptly rejected U.S. President Barack Obama's call for the creation of a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders.
Sitting next to Obama, Netanyahu said that Israel was willing to make some concessions in peace negotiations but would not return to the pre-1967 borders.
"We cannot go back to those indefensible lines," Netanyahu said.
The president never mentioned the border delineation issue as the two spoke before reporters following a long meeting in the Oval Office. But Obama acknowledged there would be a divergence of opinion between the two countries on the road to a peace plan.
"Obviously there are some differences between us in the precise formulations and language, and that's going to happen between friends," Obama said.
Meanwhile Netanyahu spoke of his responsibility "at a time of extraordinary instability and uncertainty in the Middle East" to work with Obama "to fashion a peace that will ensure Israel's security and will not jeopardize its survival."
"History will not give the Jewish people another chance," he said.
Netanyahu also said his government would not negotiate with the newly formed unity Palestinian government because it includes Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist.
In a speech on Thursday, Obama said that for Middle East peace to be a reality, a future Palestinian state will have to be based on borders that existed before the Six Day War of 1967, in which Israeli occupied east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
But the U.S. president said mutual land swaps could be used to adjust the borders' final form.
Such conditions are necessary because Israel can never live in true peace as a Jewish state if it insists on "permanent occupation," Obama said. But Israel must end up with a safe and secure state, without fear of attack from Palestinians.
He also raised the question of how negotiations can proceed with Hamas -- which seeks to destroy Israel and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. -- squarely in the midst of the delicate proceedings.
"How can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist?" Obama asked.
"In the weeks and months to come, Palestinian leaders will have to provide a credible answer to that question."
While Obama's remarks on the Middle East were broadly in line with prior U.S. policy, it was the first time that the president said publicly that the pre-1967 borders were a starting point for peace negotiations.
Thursday's speech met with angry criticism in Israel. Netanyahu immediately dismissed the pre-1967 borders because they would leave major Jewish settlements outside Israel.
CTV's Middle East Bureau Chief Martin Seemungal said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Israeli prime minister about the content of Obama's speech before it was delivered. But the warning wasn't enough to placate Netanyahu, who will now have to deal with the political fallout from the U.S. president's remarks.
"Why Netanyahu is so angry about this is that Obama made this a prerequisite and it's put him under pressure," Seemungal told CTV News Channel from Jerusalem on Friday.
European leaders signalled their approval Friday of Obama's position on the border issue.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called it "a good, viable path that both sides should consider."
William Hague, the foreign secretary for the United Kingdom, also agreed with "Obama's clear message that the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps."
European Union spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said the principles put forward by Obama for Middle East peace had been backed by the 27-member bloc of European countries for some time.
With files from The Associated Press
