The Israeli leader said he would make some concessions but Israel will not go back to the lines from decades earlier because they are "indefensible."

For his part, Obama said there were differences of formulations and language but that such disputes are going to happen "between friends." The president never mentioned the 1967 borders in his comments to reporters.

The two men spoke after a lengthy meeting at the White House amid tense times.

Obama said in his speech that the United States supports creation of a Palestinian state based on the border lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel forces occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Obama's remark deeply angered Israel.

In Friday's press conference, Obama acknowledged that Syria was of "acute concern" for the United States and Israel, and outlined tough US measures against Damascus to Netanyahu.

Earlier, an Israeli government official said Netanyahu was disappointed Obama's speech did not address the Palestinian demand to repatriate to Israel millions of Palestinians, most descendants of people who were driven from or fled homes in the war over the Jewish state's 1948 creation. "There is a feeling that Washington does not understand the reality, Washington does not understand what we face," the official said.

Ahead of his trip to Washington, Netanyahu delivered a speech to his Parliament in which he made clear his opposition to talks with a newly constituted Palestinian government that shares power between Fatah and Hamas.