US rules out Mideast peace deal before Obama leaves office

President Barack Obama has made a “realistic assessment” that a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians is not possible during his final months in office, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The officials spoke to reporters ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on Monday. It’s the first time Obama and Netanyahu have met face-to-face since the U.S. and its international partners reached a nuclear accord with Iran.

 

Netanyahu was a chief critic of the deal and lobbied Republican lawmakers to oppose its implementation.

 

While the nuclear accord is expected to be a major focus of the leaders’ talks, they’ll also discuss a fresh wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that began two months ago at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site and spread across Israel and into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

 

Read More: US rules out Mideast peace deal before Obama leaves office – Business Insider