President Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday evening after a rough stretch in U.S. efforts to settle the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
| Could I but be a fly upon that wall... |
The White House announced the meeting on Sunday.
Netanyahu has resisted Obama administration calls to halt Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the heart of a future Palestinian state, though he announced his government would limit construction of new settlements.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced last week that he would not run in the next Palestinian elections, set for January, amid open frustration among Palestinian leaders with Washington.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fueled Palestinian anger last week when she described Netanyahu's decision to restrict -- but not halt -- West Bank settlements as "unprecedented." Clinton later clarified that the United States "does not accept the legitimacy" of building Israeli housing on occupied Palestinian land. But she was unable to persuade Abbas to resume talks with Israel.
Netanyahu is scheduled to address a conference of Jewish groups in Washington on Monday, but no meetings had been scheduled between the U.S. and Israeli leaders as of late last week, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday.
| "Surely we can find twenty minutes somewhere in the schedule for that man!" |
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