Israeli PM Netanyahu: Peace talks with Palestinians could resume in weeks

Netanyahu: Peace talks could resume in weeks

HERZLIYA, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday he had reason to believe that long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians could resume in a matter of weeks.

Netanyahu did not give details, but an official indicated Israel would take a step to make it possible for the Palestinians to agree to talks. He did not elaborate and spoke on condition of anonymity because no offer has been made.

Palestinians have been insisting that Israel halt all construction in Jewish West Bank settlements before peace talks are restarted. They rejected a partial 10-month freeze Netanyahu imposed in late November as insufficient, because it does not include east Jerusalem, where Palestinians hope to establish a capital.

Netanyahu was speaking at an annual security conference sponsored by the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, where Israeli leaders have made significant policy statements in past years.

Netanyahu told the conference: “I have reason to hope realistically that in the coming weeks we will restart peace talks with the Palestinians without preconditions.”

Netanyahu praised Palestinian efforts to improve their economy and build institutions, but he appealed to them to accept a resumption of efforts toward a peace accord. “If this willingness indeed exists, we will see resumption of the process in the coming weeks,” he said.

Senior Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said he was unaware of a possibility to resume talks in the near future. “All we know, all that the world knows is that settlement activity should stop,” he said.

“This is the only way to enter serious negotiations that lead to a just, fair and stable peace in the whole region,” he added in a statement.

Another Abbas aide, Nimr Hamad, said Palestinians were studying Netanyahu’s remarks as well as an offer by U.S. envoy George Mitchell to conduct shuttle diplomacy with Israel.

One obstacle to a peace agreement is a split between the West Bank and Gaza, and a step toward healing that rift came Wednesday. Palestinians hope to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza, which are separated by Israeli territory.

The Islamic militant Hamas overran Gaza in 2007, expelling Fatah loyalists of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leaving him in command only of the West Bank.

On Wednesday, senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath crossed into Gaza for talks with Hamas, the first such mission since the Hamas takeover.

At a joint news conference in Gaza City after sundown Wednesday, Shaath and Hamas official Khalil al-Haya both said the talks were meant to lead to reconciliation, though neither detailed steps to overcome the differences.

However, the cordial tone of the meeting was a contrast to a year of insults flying back and forth between the two sides.

Shaath’s Gaza home was looted and burned down by Hamas forces during the takeover. “This visit has come late,” said Shaath after entering Gaza. “We cannot continue with these divisions.”

Shaath plans to stay three days.

After nightfall Wednesday, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a rocket into Israel. Police said it caused no casualties or damage. Israel routinely responds to rocket attacks with airstrikes at tunnels used to smuggle weapons and explosives from Egypt into Gaza.

Also Wednesday, Israeli police safely detonated another barrel bomb on an Israeli beach, just south of Tel Aviv. It was the third explosives-filled barrel to wash ashore this week.

Police said the barrels were released by militants off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Two similar devices were neutralized on beaches closer to Gaza on Monday. Palestinian militants said more were on the way.

“Police are continuing to search the beaches all along the coastline,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

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Associated Press reporter Rizek Abdel Jawad in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, and Dalia Nammari in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.