World leaders back Obama over ME peace deal

The leaders of the world's richest countries were to give "strong support" to US President Barack Obama's insistence that a Mid-East peace deal be based on pre-1967 borders. In a draft statement at the G8 Summit in Deauville, northern France, the leaders urged Israelis and Palestinians "to return to substantive talks with a view to concluding a framework agreement on all final status issues". "To that effect, we express our strong support for the vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace outlined by President Obama on May 19, 2011," they said.

The draft was still being discussed on the summit's final day, but the section on Israel-Palestine was not expected to change.

In a keynote policy speech on May 19, Obama included a clear call for Israelis and Palestinians to use the borders before the 1967 Six-Day War as the basis for talks to achieve a negotiated solution to the conflict.

That was sharply rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel would be "indefensible" if it returned to the borders which existed in 1967, which would not include dozens of settlements.

The G8 final declaration, seen by AFP, said "negotiations are the only way toward a comprehensive and lasting resolution to the conflict. The framework for these negotiations is well known".

The leaders called on both sides to abide by existing co-operation agreements "and to abstain from unilateral measures that could hamper progress and further reforms".