White House: Israel’s two-state solution not likely under Obama

Much has happened since they last met in October of a year ago: Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of Congress to campaign against a nuclear deal with Iran and expressed misgivings about the two-state solution – both of which antagonized the White House.

The US and Israeli leaders hold their first face-to-face meeting in more than a year at the White House.

Israel hopes to secure an increase in USA aid from the current $3 billion a year to $5 billion. It was their first meeting since October 2014 and after the agreement of July 14 on the Iran nuclear.

The White House also said Netanyahu’s visit is a demonstration of the deep and enduring bonds between the US and Israel as well as their unprecedented security cooperation.

Earlier Monday, Israeli Cabinet Minister Silvan Shalom, Netanyahu’s designated negotiator with the Palestinians, said the prime minister would outline for Obama a number of confidence-building gestures toward the Palestinians, including easing restrictions on communications, water usage, work permits in Israel and Palestinian development in the West Bank.

Sky News’ Amanda Walker in Washington DC says the tone could hardly have been more different from Mr Netanyahu’s last visit.

“We’ll also have a chance to talk about how implementation of Iran nuclear agreement is going on”, Obama said.

And the White House has now admitted publicly that after two failed attempts to broker a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, the differences between the two sides are so stark that there is little hope of a deal before Obama leaves office.

As they moved to put their disputes behind them, the two leaders were to discuss plans for a new $30bn (£20bn) military aid deal with Israel.

Obama himself stressed the importance of Israel’s security, noting that he has “repeatedly” said that protecting Israel was one of his top foreign policy priorities.

Obama called for resuming the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Mr Obama said he was looking forward to hearing from the prime minister his thoughts on how to reduce the tension with Palestinians, while reiterating his position that Israel had the right to defend itself.

Israel’s prime minister on Sunday departed for Washington on a trip that has become clouded in controversy following his appointment of a new spokesman who has spoken derisively about President Barack Obama. He also emphasized his preference for a two-state solution, but did not give any ground on the Israelis’ long-standing conditions for achieving that solution.

In the Oval meeting alongside the two premiers was Vice President Joe Biden, the president’s national security advisor Susan Rice and the ambassadors from both nations, Ron Dermer and Dan Shapiro. Netanyahu previously said the nuclear deal could pave the way for Israel’s destruction, while Obama said Netanyahu is “wrong” and that diplomacy and a deal was necessary to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.