Netanyahu to Obama: "Not Going to Happen"

Netanyahu spoke masterfully without using a teleprompter

Washington DC, May 20, 2011. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, to school today.

Netanyahu flatly reject any suggestion that Israel might even consider withdrawing from territories it seized in the 1967 Six-Day War, while President Obama steamed helplessly in his chair.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said "While Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines," Netanyahu said with Obama squirming nervously in his seat with a stern expression on his face.

"These lines are indefensible. ... They don't take into account certain changes that have taken place on the ground, demographic changes that have taken place over the last 44 years."

In essence, Netanyahu told Obama to take a flying leap. But in a very diplomatic way.

The president had called Thursday for new peace negotiations toward a Palestinian state to be based on Israel's 1967 borders, supplemented with voluntary land swaps and leaving questions about Jerusalem's status for the future.





Netanyahu said the territory added since 1967 gave Israel a better chance to defend itself, and that any retreat would forfeit defensive positions against attack.

"Remember that, before 1967, Israel was all of 9 miles wide. It was half the width of the Washington Beltway," he said, referring to the area of Washington encircled by I-495. "These were not the boundaries of peace; they were the boundaries of repeated wars, because the attack on Israel was so attractive."

Moreover, Netanyahu made clear that he intends not only to maintain control of at least some of the seized territory in the West Bank of the Jordan River, but he also said he'd keep Israeli military there.

"We can't go back to those indefensible lines, and we're going to have to have a long-term military presence along the Jordan," he said.

Netanyahu addressed his remarks to the Palestinians. But with Obama's talk about the 1967 borders in his speech the day before, it was clear that the prime minister was reacting to the president. Obama stared blankly at Netanyahu as the prime minister spoke.



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