Washington, April 13: President Barack Obama and Jordan’s King Abdullah II called on Monday for proximity peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians to take place “as soon as possible” despite the current deadlock.
The White House said in a statement that the two leaders discussed the impasse in US efforts to launch indirect peace talks when they met on the sidelines of a 47-nation nuclear security summit here.
“Both agreed that Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks should begin as soon as possible, and transition quickly to direct negotiations,” the statement said.
“They also agreed that both sides should refrain from actions that undermine trust during these talks.”
The statement, which also said the two leaders discussed Iraq, the Iranian nuclear confrontation and Afghanistan, did not however spell out how Obama and the king thought the current deadlock could be resolved.
Israel and the White House have been locked in a rare public confrontation over getting proximity talks started.
Netanyahu decided not to attend the nuclear summit, after returning home last month to media derision after a testy White House meeting with Obama failed to make obvious progress.
Netanyahu reportedly feared that that Muslim nations here would make an issue of Israel’s assumed nuclear status, but his decision revived debate about his tense relations with the Obama administration.
Israel has deflected blame over the stalled peace effort, after the Palestinians refused to join indirect talks without a Jewish settlement freeze and following a flare-up of violence in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
But Washington is angry at several new settlement projects in East Jerusalem, seen by Palestinians as the capital of their future state.
Monday’s meeting between Obama and the King came a week after unnamed US officials floated the idea of launching a new unilateral US peace plan in an effort to unblock the impasse in the Middle East, in several newspaper accounts.
But, on the record, officials are saying no decision has yet been made on a strategic shift of the US position, as a row rumbles on with Israel over settlements in Jerusalem.
–Agencies