Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expects no breakthroughs at a meeting this week with a U.S. peace envoy, but hopes talks with the Palestinians can resume within two months, a spokesman said on Monday, Reuters reported.
A right-winger in power since March, Netanyahu has resisted Western pressure to freeze Jewish settlements on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood. The dispute has opened a rift between Israel and its top ally, the United States.
Speaking before a London visit during which Netanyahu is to meet U.S. envoy George Mitchell, his spokesman Nir Hefetz told reporters: "The prime minister expects there to be a certain degree of progress, but no breakthrough is expected."
Mitchell has been trying to reach an agreement with Israel on a settlement freeze that U.S. President Barack Obama has demanded in accordance with a 2003 peace "road map" that also calls on the Palestinians to rein in militants.
Netanyahu will make clear Israel plans to "attend to the normal needs" of its settlers "alongside a political process that is to be launched in about two months' time," Hefetz said.
Media reports have spoken of a possible summit between Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, overseen by Obama, on the sidelines of next month's U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Netanyahu's four-day trip to London and Berlin includes talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Both leaders have been critical of Israel's settlement policy.
Abbas has made a resumption of peace talks with Israel, suspended since December, conditional on a settlement freeze.
"Anything short of complying with the demands of the road map, with the demands of President Obama ... (and) the Palestinians won't be able to go to any negotiations," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, an Abbas spokesman.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly played down the chances of a breakthrough in London but said the United States believed it was "getting closer" to peace talks resuming.
"We're more hopeful that we can ... get to the point where we can resume these talks," he told reporters in Washington.
"We're getting closer to an agreement (that would pave the way to peace talks) but any reports that we've come to an agreement or that we expect one on Wednesday ... I would have to call premature," Kelly said.
U.S. ASSURANCES
Israeli media reports suggest a wide gap remains between Israel and Washington. Netanyahu wants to limit any settlement freeze to a six-month period and continue projects under way. The United States wants at least a two-year suspension.
Netanyahu has also sought U.S. assurances that a settlement deal would be accompanied by initial steps by Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel.