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Washington (AFP) May 23, 2011 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to address Washington's powerful pro-Israel lobby late Monday in a speech expected to try and mend fences with his American hosts. Netanyahu comes into the meeting with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) following a tumultuous weekend in which he repeatedly clashed with US President Barack Obama over the schematics of a future Israel-Palestinian peace deal. But with Obama standing firm and commentators saying Netanyahu had gone too far in antagonizing the US president, the Israeli premier planned to use the friendly AIPAC forum to try to resolve the differences. "In his speech the prime minister is expected to emphasize the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel and the deep American commitment to Israel's security," his office said in a statement. The clash came after Obama for the first time gave public voice to the long-held view of the US administration that a Palestinian state must be created based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Six Day War, with some adjustments so that Israel can maintain settlement blocs. In a dramatic appearance on Friday, Netanyahu emphatically rejected this, choosing to interpret it as a call for Israel to withdraw to the actual 1967 frontier, which he called militarily "indefensible" before proceeding to lecture the American president in the Oval Office. But when Obama stood firm despite Netanyahu's opposition and calls from Republican leaders to back away from the issue, Netanyahu changed his tone. "Netanyahu understood that he had broken a rule that an Israeli leader must not break -- he had come between the two American parties in an election period," wrote Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer, two senior commentators in the Yediot Aharonot daily. Since then Netanyahu has been trying to put a more positive spin on relations. A meeting Monday with Vice President Joe Biden at the White House was described by Netanyahu's office as "warm and heartfelt." Among the issues discussed were the "great similarities in the positions of Israel and the United States," the statement said without elaborating. And Netanyahu was also expected to make a second conciliatory move when he addresses both houses of Congress on Tuesday, in a speech in which he plans to lay out the details of what he would be prepared to do to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians. "Netanyahu is expected in his speech to address the recent changes in the Middle East and the Iranian threat. Also, he will speak about the principles for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians," his office said. Obama supervised the relaunch of negotiations in September only to see them collapse within weeks when Netanyahu refused to renew a partial freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The Palestinians then refused to return to talks while Israel builds on land they want for their promised state. A far-reaching Israeli initiative was seen as the only way of heading off a Palestinian attempt to unilaterally secure recognition of a state when the UN General Assembly meets in September. But that was before Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas signed a surprise unity deal with the Islamist Hamas. Since then Netanyahu has said there can be no negotiations with the Palestinians while Hamas, which is designated a terror group by Israel, the United States and the European Union, continues to call for the destruction of the Jewish state. Still, Netanyahu faces strong calls to put forward an Israel peace plan in the face of mounting international support for recognizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations as a way to unblock the impasse in peace talks. "We have to find a way to say 'yes, but,' Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday. "Not to blur our objections or the importance we give to security considerations, but to find a way to move forward with the Americans, with the Europeans, with whatever is possible to block the diplomatic tsunami coming in September."
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