Obama continues to blast Netanyahu, reassesses options

In an interview to the Huffington Post, US President Barack Obama attacked Binyamin Netanyahu on the Palestinian issue and Israeli Arabs, asserting: “I did indicate to him that we continue to believe that a two-state solution is the only way for the long-term security of Israel, if it wants to stay both a Jewish state and democratic."
He went on to say: "And I indicated to him that given his statements prior to the election, it is going to be hard to find a path where people are seriously believing that negotiations are possible.” Obama was referring to Netanyahu’s declaration during his campaign for re-election that there would be no Palestinian state on his watch. The prime minister has since said he has not retracted from his original support for a two-state solution, but circumstances in the region had changed radically and any Israeli withdrawal from land would endanger its security. Obama said he was taking Netanyahu at his word from before the election, insisting that the US would perform a policy reassessment in view of the fact that the status quo with the Palestinians was “unsustainable and a recipe for chaos in the region.”