Washington: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended a troubled US visit on Thursday, saying progress had been made toward settling a dispute with the White House over Jewish housing construction in occupied East Jerusalem.
"We think we have found a golden way that would allow the Americans to move the peace process forward while preserving our national interests," Netanyahu said just before boarding a plane to fly back to Israel early on Thursday.
Netanyahu met US President Barack Obama and held last-minute talks with Mideast envoy George Mitchell.
In a flurry of meetings throughout on Wednesday, the US and Israeli officials scrambled to put together a package of goodwill gestures that President Barack Obama hoped could persuade Palestinians to return to peace talks.
Israeli sources had said Netanyahu could not finalise any confidence-building measures until he presented them to his Cabinet. He leads a coalition government dominated by pro-settler parties, including his own.
Nir Hefez, a spokesman for Netanyahu, said a group of seven senior Israeli cabinet ministers would convene with Netanyahu in Jerusalem late on Thursday to discuss the package of confidence-building measures.
He did not give details on the measures to be discussed.
Palestinians have demanded a complete settlement freeze in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Netanyahu has cautioned that accepting their terms for reviving negotiations, in the format of US-mediated, indirect talks, could put peace efforts on hold for another year.
Officials, including US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, held consultations in Netanyahu`s Washington hotel even as new settlement expansion plans on disputed land in Jerusalem threatened further strains between Washington and its close ally.
"The president asked the prime minister to take steps to build confidence for proximity talks so that progress can be made toward comprehensive peace," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters, referring to indirect negotiations.
"There are areas of agreement and there are areas of disagreement," he said without elaborating.
In a sign of a deep rift over Israeli settlement policy, the Obama administration withheld from Netanyahu some of the usual trappings during a White House visit on Tuesday.
Press coverage of his Oval Office talks with Obama was barred, and the leaders made no public statements afterward.
Bureau Report
