Netanyahu to get pressured to OK Palestinian state

[May 19, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ending a three-day trip, is likely to face questions on Capitol Hill on his refusal to endorse the cornerstone of international Mideast policy, the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Netanyahu was to meet Tuesday with House and Senate leaders and a group of Jewish legislators. He was to lay out his vision of Mideast peacemaking and make his case for strong action against Iran. He was also meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

President Barack Obama waded deep into the tangle of Mideast politics during four hours of talks with Netanyahu on Monday, telling the Israeli leader to stop expanding Jewish settlements and grasp the "historic opportunity" to make peace with the Palestinians.

With Netanyahu at his side, Obama said he had told the new Israeli leader that Israel must move quickly to resume peace talks with the Palestinians and insisted that negotiations start from an existing agreement to establish an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"I suggested to the prime minister that he has a historic opportunity to get a serious movement on this issue during his tenure," Obama said. "That means that all the parties involved have to take seriously obligations that they have previously agreed to."

Obama pointedly told reporters that serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians would be possible only if Netanyahu would order an end to the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Netanyahu, whose hard-line government replaced a more moderate Israeli coalition last March, said he was ready to resume peace talks with the Palestinians immediately but refused to say if he would negotiate the creation of a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel.

As for Obama's demand to halt settlement expansion, Netanyahu told reporters who traveled with him that Palestinians must also be held to their obligation to dismantle militant groups.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who visits the White House on May 28, has said he would not resume negotiations unless Israel committed to a two-state solution and agreed to freeze settlements. His aides offered praise for Obama but were disappointed with Netanyahu's response.

Obama declared a readiness to seek deeper international sanctions against Iran if it shunned U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program. He said he expected a positive response to his diplomatic outreach by the end of the year.

"The important thing is to make sure there is a clear timetable, at which point we say these talks don't seem to be making any clear progress," Obama said. "If that hasn't taken place I think the international community will see that it's ... Iran itself that is isolating themselves."

Netanyahu considers Iran, with its nuclear program, arsenal of ballistic missiles and repeated calls for Israel's destruction, to be his country's greatest threat.

After a White House news conference with Obama, he told Israel-based reporters that he hoped the U.S. policy of engaging Iran succeeds, but added that "Israel reserves the right to defend itself."

[Associated Press; By AMY TEIBEL]

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