Netanyahu hoping for Obama meeting

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to meet President Obama during a visit to Washington amid a delicate time in US efforts to restart Middle East peace talks.

Although officials in the Israeli premier's office expressed optimism Mr Netanyahu will see Mr Obama during his three-day visit, the White House had yet to confirm such a meeting would take place.

'I can't confirm in a categoric manner that there will be a meeting,' Mr Netanyahu's spokesman Nir Hefetz told public radio before the premier's plane took off for the US.

'But when the prime minister goes to Washington, he is always happy to meet the American president.'

Asked if the absence of a meeting with Mr Obama would reveal a crisis in ties between the two allies amid Washington's foundering efforts to revive peace talks, another senior Israeli official gave an emphatic 'no'.

But Mr Netanyahu will widely be seen as having been spurned if he does not meet Mr Obama, since Israeli premiers hardly ever go to the US without meeting the president.

This trip, however, comes at a delicate time for Washington and its sputtering efforts to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, a goal the US administration has made the cornerstone of its Middle East policy.

After months of backing Palestinian demands for a total Jewish settlement freeze ahead of the resumption of peace talks, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Mr Netanyahu's offer of easing construction as 'unprecedented' during a visit to the region last week, triggering Palestinian fury.

Mrs Clinton later backtracked, but her statements were widely interpreted as a U-turn by Washington which, after months of pressing Israel on settlements, appeared to back off and pile the pressure instead on the Palestinians to relaunch talks without preconditions.

An Obama-Netanyahu meeting a little over a week after Ms Clinton's remarks would be likely to reinforce that view among Palestinians, analysts said.

Days after Mrs Clinton's visit, Washington's peace efforts were dealt another blow when Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas announced he would not stand for re-election in polls he has called for January.

In Washington, Mr Netanyahu is due to address the general assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America on Monday and also plans to hold talks in Congress.

Mr Obama was originally also scheduled to speak at the gathering, but has cancelled his appearance in order to attend a memorial service at Fort Hood military base after the massacre there, the organisation said on its website.