Israel considering options to promote peace

— Israel is considering what it can do to enable a full-fledged Mideast peace process and Palestinian-Israeli negotiations to take off, including instituting a temporary freeze on settlements, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday. But after four hours of talks with U.S. special Mideast peace envoy, George Mitchell, Barak would not commit to a temporary settlement freeze. Asked whether Israel would agree to a freeze of perhaps three to six months, Barak replied: "I think it's a little bit too early to predict." The U.S. wants settlement construction to stop completely to help revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Israel's insistence that "natural growth" be allowed in existing settlements to deal with births and marriages has been an irritant in its relations with President Barack Obama's administration.... [read full story]                    

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