"Hard work" settling dispute with Obama -Israel

Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:03pm EDT

* Netanyahu says hopes to bridge differences with U.S.

* Israel predicts "hard work" closing gaps on settlements

(Recasts with Netanyahu comments, adds Arab League quotes)

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

PARIS, June 24 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he hoped to reach understandings with the United States that would heal a rift over Jewish settlement growth in the West Bank.

A senior Israeli official who travelled with Netanyahu to Paris, where he met French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said "a lot of hard work" was needed to reach common ground with Washington on the settlement issue.

U.S. President Barack Obama wants Netanyahu to declare a total settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank, territory where Palestinians hope to establish a state.

Netanyahu has said he intends to build further within existing blocs to accommodate what he calls "natural growth" in settler families.

Speaking after his talks with Sarkozy, Netanyau told reporters that differences could occur "among the best of friends" and said Israel was in the process of clarifying its settlement policy to Washington.

Western diplomats said the abrupt cancellation of Netanyahu's planned meeting in Paris on Thursday with Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, underscored the difficulty both sides faced bridging their differences.

Mitchell will meet instead with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak in Washington on Monday. "I asked for the postponement of the meeting," Netanyahu said about the talks he had planned to hold with Mitchell in the French capital.

"Mr. Mitchell agreed immediately. We believed we had to clarify several issues and statistics. The defence minister will do this on Monday in the United States," Netanyahu said.

"We will continue the contacts, with goodwill and with the intention of reaching understandings that will advance a peace process -- a diplomatic process between us and the Palestinians, and I hope between us and the rest of the Arab world."



UNDERSTANDINGS

Senior Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu sought understandings with the Obama administration that would allow construction already under way in settlements to go forward.

Barak, in remarks in Jerusalem on Wednesday, cited Netanyahu's readiness to "enter willingly into a regional peace initiative", one of Obama's foreign policy objectives.

In lieu of a full settlement freeze, Netanyahu has said he would not build additional enclaves in the territory, captured by Israel in a 1967 war, that Palestinians seek for a state.

But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out a resumption of peace talks with Israel until Netanyahu commits to a full settlement freeze, including natural growth, as called for under a 2003, U.S.-backed peace "road map".

Israel has sought to ease tensions over settlements by committing to remove more West Bank roadblocks and unauthorised settler outposts.

The Arab League likened negotiating with Israel while settlements were continuing to expand as tantamount to surrendering on "matters over which we cannot surrender".

"Settlements destroy peace and prevent negotiations. If settlement does not stop, there will be a big catastrophe in the peace (process)," Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told journalists after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Adam Entous in Jerusalem, Editing by Robert Woodward)



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