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Obama to press Netanyahu on 2 states

Days before a White House summit, the Obama administration signaled that the U.S. president would press Israel's new government to endorse Palestinian statehood and halt settlement expansion.

But senior U.S. officials downplayed prospects of a confrontation between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday as they grapple with rare differences between Washington and its close ally.

"The president does not believe it's going in a bad direction," one Obama aide told Reuters when asked about the refusal so far by Netanyahu's right-leaning government to embrace a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.

Administration officials said Obama would push that principle, the cornerstone of U.S. Middle East policy for years, in his talks with Netanyahu, which are aimed at reviving the stalled peace process.

"Two states living side by side in peace and security -- my guess is they'll discuss that, and it's an issue they'll continue to work through," an official said.

Obama, who has promised to make Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking a high priority since taking office in January, will also stress U.S. opposition to continued construction of Jewish settlements on occupied land in the West Bank.

"The Israelis have obligations related to settlements and outposts," an official said. "It will certainly be a topic for them to discuss."

Netanyahu has resisted calls to freeze settlement expansion on land Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The international community considers the settlements illegal, a position disputed by Israel.

Obama and Netanyahu will also talk about restarting Israeli-Syrian peace talks under Turkish auspices, officials said. Netanyahu has been cool to the idea given Syria's demand for a return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

An administration source acknowledged Obama had discussed with Jordanian King Abdullah last month the possibility of broadening an Arab peace initiative with Israel. Abdullah told the Times of London this week that Obama wanted to promote a peace plan involving all Muslim countries.

But the U.S. official said the Obama administration wants to first complete this round of one-on-one talks, including with Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak next week, before determining "the best way to move forward."

Israel PM 'may back two states'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be prepared to endorse a peace process leading to an independent Palestinian state, his defence minister has said.

Ehud Barak, a long-time rival now part of Israel's governing coalition, spoke ahead of Mr Netanyahu's first meeting with US President Obama in Washington.

He told Israeli TV a regional deal could be struck within three years.

Netanyahu has so far been unwilling to discuss a two-state solution, saying only he wants a "fresh approach".

He recently made his first visits out of Israel since taking office, travelling to Egypt and Jordan during the past week.

A two-state solution based on independent Palestinian statehood is a goal strongly backed by the US and by Jordan and Egypt, Israel's only allies among Arab states.

Poll: Jewish Israelis want Netanyahu to back two-state plan

Most Jewish Israelis want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back the two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, said a poll published on Friday ahead of the premier's first official trip to Washington next week.

Fifty-eight percent of Jewish Israelis think Netanyahu should support the two-state solution, according to the poll by the Rafi Smith Institute published on the Ynet news website.

The strongest support for two states came from Israel's secular community, with 73 percent of non-religious Jews backing withdrawal from occupied territory in return for peace, it said.

Religious Jews polled took a much harder line. Seventy percent of Israel's Orthodox Jewish community said they "did not agree with the idea of two states".

Younger Israelis were more hawkish than their seniors. Of those under the age of 30, only 46 percent endorsed a Palestinian state, compared with 63 percent among the over-60s.

The poll was conducted among a representative sample of 500 Jewish Israelis and had a 4.5 percent margin of error.

Syria: Israel not a good peace partner

Syria's president said that his country is interested in resuming indirect peace talks with Israel but does not believe the new Israeli government makes a good negotiating partner.

Syria has said it is willing to resume the talks mediated by Turkey as long as they focus on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights. But Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said he would not be willing to cede the territory Syria wants.

"Syria is keen about peace as much as it is keen about the return of its occupied territories," Assad said during a joint press conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

"When we have a specific vision and when their is a partner, then we can speak about a date to resume peace talks," said Assad.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who also opposes ceding all of the Golan Heights, has said he would be willing to resume indirect peace talks with Syrian only if there were no preconditions.

Israel has held several rounds of talks with the Syrians, most recently indirect negotiations mediated by Turkey last year. Disagreement over the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights have spoiled the attempts to forge peace. Israel captured the strategic plateau in the June 1967 Mideast war.

The talks mediated by Turkey broke off during Israel's three-week offensive against the Gaza Strip's militant Hamas rulers in December and January.

Assad said in a newspaper interview in March that those talks failed because Israel would not make a clear commitment to return all of the Golan up to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Assad said Israel wanted to keep some disputed land around the Galilee, its main water source. (BBC, AFP, Al Jazeera, CTV.ca, Reuters, AP, Xinhua)

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