Netanyahu wants peace with Palestinians 'soon'

Washington - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he is committed to peace negotiations with the Palestinians without preconditions and that he wanted to complete an accord "soon."Netanyahu spoke hours ahead of a closed door evening meeting with President Barack Obama, who has seen his effort to revive Israeli- Palestinian talks founder. Netanyahu and Obama have also sharply differed over settlements in a rare public dispute between US and Israeli leaders.

Speaking to a gathering of the North American Jewish federations, Netanyahu said the effort to achieve peace must be intensified.

"There's no time to waste," he said. "We need to move to move towards peace with a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose."

"My goal is not to have endless negotiations. My goal is not negotiations for the sake of negotiations," he said. "My goal is to achieve a permanent peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, and soon."

Netanyahu has rebuffed Obama's calls for a complete freeze on settlement activity, including the expansion of current ones.