Mr Netanyahu told Mr Obama that to suggest a return to Israel's pre-1967 borders did not "take into account certain changes that have taken place" in the intervening 44 years.
The president said that the talks, which had overrun in the Oval Office by more than 90 minutes, had been "extremely useful" and although he did not mention the pre-1967 borders, he reiterated the need for "a contiguous, functioning" Palestinian state.
It was the seventh Obama-Netanyahu meeting and came after Mr Obama's speech on Thursday calling for the creation of a Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders triggered uproar in the Israeli government.
During the frosty public show, the Israeli premier told Mr Obama that any peace deal "based on illusion will crash on the rocks of Middle East reality". Israel, he insisted, "can't go back to the 1967 lines".
Mr Netanyahu also warned that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, would have to choose between a new unity pact with the militant group Hamas or peace with Israel. Mr Obama agreed with Mr Netanyahu that the Palestinians would have to answer "some very difficult questions" about the recent reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah – Hamas still denies Israel's right to exist.
Mr Netanyahu's anger was compounded by the fact that he had been taken by surprise, learning the contents of Mr Obama's Thursday speech about the future of the Middle East just a few hours before it was delivered. » | Toby Harnden, Washington and Adrian Blomfield | Friday, May 20, 2011
