Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday his government was making progress towards reopening peace talks with the Palestinians and hoped to be able to do so shortly, Reuters reported.
Israel has resisted U.S. President Barack Obama's calls to freeze settlement building in occupied territory so that peace talks may resume, a dispute that has led to a rare rift in the Jewish state's relations with its main backer.
Netanyahu held talks in London with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday morning, a meeting described as "very productive" by the two men.
"They agreed on the importance of restarting meaningful negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians and working toward a comprehensive peace, and that all sides need to take concrete steps toward peace," they said in a joint statement issued by the U.S. State Department.
"The Prime Minister and the Senator made good progress today, and an Israeli delegation will meet Senator Mitchell next week in the United States to continue the conversation".
Mitchell would visit Israel next month as well, Netanyahu said.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev suggested in remarks to reporters in London that an agreement with Washington which would allow peace talks to resume could come within weeks.
"The goal is to find common ground with the American administration...on a framework that will allow the restarting of an energised peace process," Regev said.
"For that process to be meaningful, the Arab world has to be part of it," he added.
Officials have said that progress in the talks with Mitchell may lead to a meeting between Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next month.
The two have not met since Netanyahu, a right-wing leader, took office in March. Abbas has so far conditioned holding any talks with Israel, stalled since December, on a freeze in construction in Jewish settlements.
Netanyahu, briefing reporters after flying to Berlin from London for talks on Thursday with Chancellor Angela Merkel, said if Abbas wanted to meet "he is welcome. We have thought for a long time there was room for us to meet."
Netanyahu would not say whether Israel had agreed to any hiatus in construction in the settlements. He said "a certain degree of progress was made but there is still work to do."
He has pledged not to build any new Israeli settlements but wants to enable what he calls "natural growth" of existing enclaves.
About half a million Israelis live in settlements built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in territory captured by Israeli forces in the 1967 Middle East War.
The international community considers the settlements to be illegal and Palestinians say they undermine their aspirations for their own state on the land.
Netanyahu insisted he would continue demanding that Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state. "We won't let up on this because it's the heart of the matter. It's a subject that cannot be shoved to the sidelines over the settlements.
Britain's Guardian newspaper said Obama was close to a deal allowing a resumption of talks by the end of next month. A U.S. promise to increase pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme was key to bringing Israel on board, it said.
Regev said arch-foe Iran was clearly a factor in any Middle East peace talks.
"You see what Iran is doing today to undermine the peace process, what would a nuclear-armed Iran be able to do to undermine the peace process?" he said.
Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only but has faced a series of U.N. sanctions over the issue.
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