Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu stress need for Mideast peace
First meeting of the two leaders in more than a year
President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday insisted they had not given up on the pursuit of Middle East peace, even as the prospect of an elusive agreement between Israelis and Palestinians appears further out of reach.
Obama and Netanyahu's meeting at the White House marked the first time the two leaders have talked face to face in more than a year. Their relationship has long been marred by tension, with the most recent being the U.S.-backed nuclear deal with Iran.
Ahead of Netanyahu's arrival in Washington, U.S. officials made clear the White House does not expect peace to be achieved before Obama leaves office in January 2017.
Speaking to reporters ahead of their private meeting, Obama said he would instead seek Netanyahu's thoughts on ways to lower tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and get the parties "back on a path towards peace."
Netanyahu declared, "We have not given up our hope for peace." He emphasized that his preference was for a two-state solution, but gave no ground on the Israelis' long-standing conditions for achieving that outcome.
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Monday's meeting comes amid a fresh burst of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel has accused Palestinian political and religious leaders of inciting the violence, while Palestinians say the violence is due to a lack of hope for gaining independence after years of failed peace efforts.
Even with no chance of significant progress on Mideast peace, the fact that Obama and Netanyahu met at all is seen as an important step. Tensions between the long-time allies boiled over earlier this year as Obama and international partners finalized the Iranian nuclear accord, a high-stakes agreement Netanyahu furiously tried to stop, even delivering a speech to Congress to urge lawmakers to block its implementation.
Netanyahu views Iran's nuclear program as an existential threat to Israel and argued that the international agreement leaves Tehran within reach of a bomb.
The leaders largely sidestepped the Iran nuclear issue in their public comments. Obama called his differences with Netanyahu on the Iran deal "narrow" and the Israeli leader didn't mention the matter at all.