Netanyahu to visit US on Sunday, peace talks to be focus (2nd Roundup)

Nov 6, 2010, 18:35 GMT

Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to arrive in the United States on Sunday to address a conference of Jewish leaders and meet with US leaders to discuss the Middle East peace process.

Netanyahu is scheduled to give a speech at the Annual North American Jewish Conference in New Orleans.

Earlier in the week he told the Israeli parliament he would also meet Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to hold talks over peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

The premier's office could not confirm the place and date of the meetings with Biden and Clinton, but said they were likely to be held in New York, where Netanyahu plans to stay for four days.

Netanyahu will not meet President Barack Obama, who is on an official visit to Asia.

The talks with the US administration over the Middle East peace process come after mid-term electoral gains last week by Republicans, traditionally more sympathetic to Israel.

US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said Friday the Obama administration still viewed the peace process as a 'priority' and would work with Congress to advance the direct negotiations.

The Israeli government is hopeful that a Republican majority House in January will be able to alleviate the pressure Obama has exerted on Israel to negotiate peace with the Palestinians and freeze settlement expansions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Direct peace talks have been frozen since September 26, when the 10-month Israeli moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank expired.

The Palestinian government has said that it would not continue with the direct talks unless Netanyahu agreed to extend the freeze.

Obama's administration has also asked Israel to extend the moratorium but the Israeli government has so far failed to present any proposal.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who has been visiting Washington for talks with US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell, said Saturday that Netanyahu must choose between settlements and peace.

Erekat said direct talks with Israel were useless unless a construction freeze on settlements in the West Bank is renewed, a regional daily reported on Saturday.

'Yes, we are at the end of the game. It is now the time for decisions. Negotiations are useless. It is now his (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's) choice; either peace or settlements,' Erekat told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Erekat said the Palestinians will give the United States around three more weeks to hear what Israel's final decision regarding settlement construction is.

Palestinians have presented to the Arab League alternatives to direct Israeli peace talks, including possibly having the United Nations recognise a Palestinian state without Israeli approval.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called the Palestinian approach 'a destructive escalation that could destabilize the entire region,' according to the Jerusalem Post.

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