Progress made with US on settlements: Israel
Israel and the US are making headway in defusing an unusually public disagreement over West Bank settlements, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he met a top American envoy in London on Wednesday.
Netanyahu has said ahead of his meeting with US Mideast envoy George Mitchell that he wants an agreement that allows Israel to proceed with some settlement construction while at the same time restarting peace talks with the Palestinians. In the past week, both Israel and the US have been signalling that an agreement could be within reach.
Speaking alongside Mitchell before the meeting, Netanyahu said he hoped peace negotiations would resume "shortly."
"We are making headway. My government has taken steps in both words and deeds to move forward," he said.
But in the days preceding Wednesday's meeting, the key encounter of the Israeli leader's four-day London trip, he also made clear he sees the spotlight on settlements as unfair and insisted the Mideast conflict is rooted in a deep Arab enmity toward Israel that predates them.
Netanyahu's made those remarks in a briefing to reporters after a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday. The subject of settlements is also sure to be raised at his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday.
The steadily growing settlements in the West Bank, which the Palestinians want for a future state, are home to 300,000 Israelis, making an Israeli withdrawal more difficult. The territory is home to some 2.5 million Palestinians.
The issue has come to overshadow Israel's ties with the U.S and much of the international community since March, when Netanyahu took power with a hardline government and President Barack Obama indicated that years of reluctant US tolerance for settlement construction had ended.
Netanyahu's aides have been dropping optimistic hints in recent days, saying a compromise with the US is growing closer and that peace talks could resume within two months, even floating the idea of a meeting between Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the UN General Assembly in New York next month. US officials have also suggested an agreement could be close.
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