Speaking behind closed doors, Netanyahu said the success of the talks will hinge on understandings between the leaders.
"I will want to reach agreed principles with the Palestinian leadership and there will be no need for many teams [of negotiators] and hundreds of meetings .... If I get the security that will ensure that no missiles will fall on Tel Aviv, it will be possible to move quickly toward a comprehensive arrangement," he was quoted as saying.
Netanyahu said during his meetings he wants to discuss security issues with the Palestinians first; only then would the two sides focus on borders of a future Palestinian state.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority said the direct negotiations will collapse if Israel resumes construction in the occupied West Bank's settlements.
Palestinian sources told Ynet Saturday evening that if the direct talks are accompanied by an Israeli announcement on the resumption of settlement construction after the moratorium expires on September 26th, the image of the Authority and the (Palestinian Liberation Organization) PLO will suffer a devastating blow and the peace process will be significantly hindered.
According to the sources, American officials have claimed that even if Israel announces the resumption of construction, no new construction projects are expected in occupied Jerusalem and West Bank communities located outside the settlement blocs. However, the sources said, Washington did not offer the PA any guarantees in this regard.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had announced Friday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority would resume direct negotiations for the establishment of a Palestinian state. The talks will be inaugurated at a two-day summit in Washington, which will follow an 18-month lull in the negotiations.
In addition to Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas, U.S. President Barack Obama has invited to the summit Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Abdullah II, and the head of the Quartet, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Sources close to Netanyahu said on Saturday that most of the negotiations will take place in the Zionist entity or the region and not in the United States.
Both Clinton and U.S. special envoy George Mitchell said over the weekend that the negotiations will aim to reach a permanent settlement and the establishment of a Palestinian state in a year. They said the negotiations will focus on all core issues: occupied Jerusalem, borders, refugees, security, settlements and water.
Clinton noted that there will be no preconditions - this is considered a major achievement for Netanyahu, who insisted that the direct talks take place unconditionally.
In her announcement over the weekend, Clinton also did not mention the September 26 expiry of the freeze on settlement construction.
The Quartet's announcement also made no mention of the construction freeze or building in occupied East Jerusalem. It just referred to its previous statement on the subject, which calls for a construction freeze.
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said the Israelis "have a choice now whether to choose settlements or peace. I hope they choose peace. I hope that Mr. Netanyahu will be our partner in peace ... and we can do it."
One of the leading analysts in the Palestinian media described how Abbas was forced to climb down from uncompromising stance with a term normally reserved to describe the defeat of the Arab armies during the Six-Day War. Abbas succumbed to Arab-American dictate, the analyst said, despite never having missed a chance to reiterate during the year that "there will be no direct negotiations without complete freeze of settlements."
The Islamic resistance group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, dismissed the direct talks as a U.S. attempt to "fool the Palestinian people." But U.S. officials said Hamas would have no role in them.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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