Netanyahu says no going back to 1967 lines

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WASHINGTON, May 24 (UPI) -- Israel will never return to its 1967 lines, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told about 10,000 members of a U.S. pro-Israel organization in Washington Monday.

The outcome of the 1967 Six Days War resulted in Israel taking control of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and the West Bank and Sinai Peninsula.

Netanyahu says Israel will not agree in peace talks to return to the lines it had before that war.

But he told a joint session of the U.S. Congress Tuesday he was willing to make "painful compromises" to achieve peace with the Palestinians..

Any peace agreement "must leave Israel with security and therefore Israel cannot return to the indefensible 1967 lines," The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu as telling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

"Israel is the cradle of our common civilization, crucible of our moral ideals. The Jewish state was founded on these eternal values. This is why Israel's more than 1 million Muslim citizens enjoy full democratic rights," Netanyahu said. "This is why the only place in the Middle East where Christians are completely free to practice their faith is in the democratic state of Israel. And this is why only Israel can be trusted to ensure freedom for all faiths in our eternal capital, the united city of Jerusalem."

Support for Israel doesn't divide America, Netanyahu said, "It unites America."