Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday his government was making progress towards reopening talks with the Palestinians and hoped to be able to do so shortly.
Israel has so far resisted United States President Barack Obama’s calls to freeze settlement building so that peace talks may resume, and the dispute has led to a rare rift in the Jewish state’s relations with Washington.
Speaking in London ahead of a meeting with the US envoy for the Middle East George Mitchell, Netanyahu said:
”We are making headway. My government has taken steps both in words and deeds to move forward.”
The Israeli leader’s spokesperson Mark Regev told reporters during the talks that the hope for renewed talks was a ”work in progress”, adding: ”I think we are getting close.”
Regev said he did not expect a breakthrough to emerge from Wednesday’s meeting, but suggested an agreement with Washington which would allow peace talks to resume could come within weeks.
”The goal is to find common ground with the American administration … on a framework that will allow the restarting of an energised peace process,” he said.
”I’m hopeful that … in the next couple of weeks we can return to an energised peace process, and for that process to be meaningful, the Arab world has to be part of it.”
Netanyahu, a right-wing leader in office since March, has pledged not to build any new settlements but wants to enable what he calls ”natural growth” of existing enclaves.
The prime minister, whose comments during a photo opportunity were relayed to reporters by his spokesperson, expressed hope the two sides would ”shortly be able to resume normal talks”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has insisted on a freeze in all construction as a condition for renewing peace talks with Israel that have been stalled since December.
After his talks with Mitchell, Netanyahu is scheduled to fly to Berlin for talks on Thursday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is also a critic of settlement expansion. — Reuters