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Netanyahu to Congress: No Compromise on Jerusalem, Refugees or Jordan River Presence

05/24/2011 | Uriel Heilman | JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that any peace deal with the Palestinians must grant Israel a military presence along the Jordan River, exclude repatriation of Palestinian refugees to Israel and leave Jerusalem as Israel’s united capital.

However, the Israeli leader said in his address to a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, some Jewish settlements in the West Bank would fall outside Israel’s borders in a final peace deal.

Hamas Response to Obama Speech: Still Won’t Recognize Israel

05/23/2011

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Hamas condemned President Obama's AIPAC speech, saying it will not recognize Israel despite the United States president's demand.

The Obama administration is "not a friend to the people of the region," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told the Ma'an Palestinian news service.

AIPAC Likes Obama’s Clarification On ‘67 Lines

05/23/2011 | Ron Kampeas | JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The American Israel Public Affairs Committee said it "appreciated" President Obama's clarification that he did not expect Israel to return to its 1967 lines.

"In particular, we appreciate his statement that the U.S. does not expect Israel to withdraw to the boundaries that existed between Israel and Jordan in 1967 before the Six-Day War," the pro-Israel lobby said in a statement released after Obama delivered a speech Sunday to its annual policy conference.

Obama to AIPAC: Israelis, Palestinians Should Negotiate a New Border

05/22/2011

WASHINGTON (JTA) – President Obama said his call for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations based on the pre-1967 lines did not mean the future state of Palestine would have those exact borders.

Digesting Obama’s Speech—Some Goes Down Easy, Some Hard

05/20/2011 | Ron Kampeas | JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Within hours of President Obama's Middle East policy speech, Israeli leaders and Jewish groups on the left and right were picking through his remarks on Israel, alternately praising, fretting and criticizing.

The big news was that Obama called for negotiations based on the pre-1967 lines, with land swaps.

“We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states," he said.

Obama to BBC: ‘Conditions on the Ground Have Changed’

05/20/2011

President Obama has elaborated upon his call for the 1967 lines to serve as the basis for a Palestinian state's border in an interview with the BBC.

"The basis for negotiations will involve looking at that 1967 border, recognizing that conditions on the ground have changed and there are going to need to be swaps to accommodate the interests of both sides," Obama told the BBC Thursday in an interview following his Middle East policy speech.