In a White House meeting overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis, the two
leaders avoided any direct clash during a brief press appearance but
were unable to paper over differences on a pair of sensitive diplomatic
drives that have stoked tensions between them.
Obama assured Netanyahu of his "absolute commitment" to preventing Iran
from developing atomic weapons, despite the Israeli leader's deep
skepticism over U.S.-led efforts to reach a final international deal to
curb Tehran's nuclear program.
But, warning that time was running out, Obama also urged Netanyahu to
make "tough decisions" to help salvage a faltering U.S.-brokered peace
process aimed at reaching a framework agreement with the Palestinians
and extending talks beyond an April target date for an elusive final
accord.
"The Israeli people expect me to stand strong against criticism and pressure," Netanyahu told the president.
Obama and Netanyahu, who have had strained relations in the past,
showed no outright tension as they sat side-by-side in the Oval Office.
Both were cordial and businesslike. But their differences were clear,
and when the talks ended after nearly three hours there was no immediate
sign of progress.
Netanyahu
arrived in Washington to a veiled warning from Obama that it would be
harder to protect Israel against efforts to isolate it internationally
if peace efforts failed.
The
Israeli prime minister used their brief joint appearance to put the onus
on the Palestinians to advance prospects for peace and also to vow to
hold the line on what he sees as Israel's security imperative.
HISTORY LESSON
In his remarks, Netanyahu offered Obama what was essentially a history
lesson covering the last 20 years of conflict with the Palestinians as
well as what Israelis see as an existential threat from Iran, arch-foe
of the Jewish state.
"Iran
calls openly for Israel's destruction, so I'm sure you'll appreciate
that Israel cannot permit such a state to have the ability to make
atomic bombs to achieve that goal," Netanyahu said. "And I, as the prime
minister of Israel, will do whatever I must do to defend the Jewish
state."
Obama is seeking room
for diplomacy with Iran, while Netanyahu, who has stoked U.S. concern
in the past with threats of unilateral strikes on Iran's nuclear sites,
has complained that sanctions on Tehran are being eased prematurely.
The meeting with Netanyahu marked a new direct foray into Middle East
peacemaking by Obama, whose first-term efforts ended in failure.
Secretary of State John Kerry has been trying to persuade Netanyahu and
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to agree to a framework deal that
would enable land-for-peace negotiations to continue, even though there
is widespread skepticism inside and outside of the region about his
chances for success.
Abbas,
who seeks Palestinian statehood, is due at the White House on March 17.
He has resisted Netanyahu's demand, repeated during the Oval Office
meeting, for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nation-state of
the Jewish people.
Netanyahu
appeared to be pushing back implicitly against Obama's warning in a
Bloomberg View interview of "international fallout" for Israel if peace
efforts break down and the building of Jewish settlements continues.
Israelis, increasingly
concerned about an anti-Israel boycott movement, view such U.S. warnings
as an attempt to squeeze out concessions.
Possibly further complicating the talks, an Israeli government report
showed that Israeli construction starts of settler homes had more than
doubled last year.
Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel captured those areas
in the 1967 Middle East war and in 2005, pulled out of the Gaza Strip,
now run by Hamas Islamists opposed to Abbas's peace efforts.
OBAMA URGES COMPROMISE
"Israel has been doing its part, and I regret to say that the
Palestinians haven't," Netanyahu said, an assertion he is likely to
repeat on Tuesday to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, a past podium
for some of his most strident speeches.
Obama commended Netanyahu for his role in the talks that resumed in
July but warned that "the time frame that we have set up for completing
these negotiations is coming near."
"It's my belief that ultimately it is still possible to create two
states," he said. "But it's difficult and it requires compromise on all
sides."
Palestinians point to Israeli settlement-building in occupied West Bank territory as the main obstacle to peace.
Netanyahu told Obama that Jewish history taught Israelis that "the best way to guarantee peace is to be strong."
His remark harkened, but without the stridency, to an Oval Office visit
in 2011 when he famously lectured the U.S. president on the long
struggles of the Jewish people, as he sought to counter Obama's call to
base any peace agreement on borders that existed before the 1967 Middle
East war.
Ukraine has
dominated Obama's agenda. "I know you've got a few other pressing
matters on your plate," Netanyahu joked to Obama, who used his press
appearance to warn Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow faces
international isolation for its military intervention in Ukraine's
Crimea region.
On Iran, Obama and Netanyahu gave no real sign of progress in bridging fundamental differences.
Netanyahu, whose country is widely believed to be the Middle East's
only nuclear-armed nation, has denounced as a "historic mistake" an
interim deal that world powers reached with Iran in November, under
which it agreed to curb sensitive nuclear activities in return for
limited sanctions relief.
He
has insists that any final deal must completely dismantle Tehran's
uranium enrichment centrifuges, a position that is at odds with Obama's
suggestion that Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, could
be allowed to enrich on a limited basis for civilian purposes.
On Netanyahu's visit to Congress, where pro-Israel sentiment runs
strong, House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor told him he backed
his demands to dismantle Iran's nuclear program and for Palestinians to
recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
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