U.S. President Barack Obama voiced hope in a fence-mending meeting on Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that direct Israeli-Palestinian talks would begin before a temporary moratorium on Israeli settlement construction expires in September.
“We expect proximity talks to lead to direct talks,” Obama said as he and Netanyahu appeared before reporters in the Oval Office. The joint appearance was intended to display warmer relations after ties reached a low point in March in a feud over Israeli settlement expansion.
Netanyahu echoed Obama, who said he hoped direct negotiations would get under way “well before” the 10-month Israeli freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank expires in September.
Read the full story at HAARETZ.com.
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