By Matthew Champion.
A resumption of Middle East peace talks was one step closer last night after a four-hour meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and the White House's special envoy.
The Israeli prime minister and George Mitchell emerged from talks in London to hail 'good progress' made towards restarting the peace process.
'[Mr Netanyahu and Mr Mitchell] 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,' a joint statement said.
A key sticking point to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Mr Netanyahu holding talks at the meeting of the UN general assembly in New York next month is the issue of Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian land.
There are more than 300,000 Israeli settlers on the West Bank, which the Palestinians want to form a key part of any future independent state.
Barack Obama has repeatedly urged Mr Netanyahu to accept that a freeze on settlement-building is a precursor to peace talks resuming but the US president's call has so far fallen on deaf ears.
The Israeli prime minister's position is complicated by some members of his cabinet actually living in some of the settlements in question.
A spokesman for the Israeli government, Mark Regev, said the Jewish state was looking for 'common ground' with the Obama administration to restart the peace process.
'For that process to be meaningful, the Arab world has to be part of it,' he added.
A resumption of Middle East peace talks was one step closer last night after a four-hour meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and the White House's special envoy.
The Israeli prime minister and George Mitchell emerged from talks in London to hail 'good progress' made towards restarting the peace process.
'[Mr Netanyahu and Mr Mitchell] 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,' a joint statement said.
A key sticking point to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Mr Netanyahu holding talks at the meeting of the UN general assembly in New York next month is the issue of Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian land.
There are more than 300,000 Israeli settlers on the West Bank, which the Palestinians want to form a key part of any future independent state.
Barack Obama has repeatedly urged Mr Netanyahu to accept that a freeze on settlement-building is a precursor to peace talks resuming but the US president's call has so far fallen on deaf ears.
The Israeli prime minister's position is complicated by some members of his cabinet actually living in some of the settlements in question.
A spokesman for the Israeli government, Mark Regev, said the Jewish state was looking for 'common ground' with the Obama administration to restart the peace process.
'For that process to be meaningful, the Arab world has to be part of it,' he added.
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