Netanyahu: Peace talks could be renewed 'in coming weeks' - Summary

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Tel Aviv - Long-stalled peace negotiations with the Palestinians could be renewed in the coming weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. "I have a basis to hope ... that in the coming weeks we will renew the peace process with the Palestinians without preconditions," he told a high-profile conference on strategy and security in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.

He did not immediately elaborate, but hinted that the talks could first start indirectly, via a third party:

"We commonly ... say that it takes two to tango. In the Middle East it sometimes takes three to tango, at least to begin to tango," he said.

"And afterwards I suppose we will be able continue with a dance of pairs," added Netanyahu.

"The only way to reach a peace agreement is to start negotiations toward a peace agreement. If indeed this will exists we will see a renewal of the process in the coming weeks."

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been on ice since Israel headed into new elections, which saw Netanyahu's nationalist Likud party return to power last March.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has raised preconditions for renewing the talks with the hardline Israeli premier, including a freeze of all Israeli construction in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu in November announced a 10-month construction moratorium in West Bank settlements that excludes East Jerusalem and some 3,000 apartments whose foundations were already laid.

That move was rejected by the Palestinians as insufficient, but pressure on Abbas to resume the negotiations has been mounting since then.

US President Barack Obama's envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, has said he wants to try and reach a resolution on the issue of borders first, before the partial settlement moratorium expires in late September.

There have been reports that the talks could resume at first indirectly, via the US, but thus far these had not been confirmed.

Netanyahu did not react in his address to Iran's announcement that it would accept a deal to swap its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel.

Nor did he address other security issues, saying only that Israel would have to continue to "strengthen our military" in order to survive in the Middle East.

Instead he used the high-profile platform to announce a five-year plan to invest in Jewish heritage and archaeological sites throughout Israel...

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307401,netanyahu-peace-talks-could-be-renewed-in-coming-weeks--summary.html.