Obama to meet Netanyahu in shadow of Mideast crisis

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will hold rare closed-door talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, underscoring tensions between the two close allies as US efforts to revive Middle East peace talks flounder.

The White House announced the meeting late Sunday only after Netanyahu had arrived in Washington with no planned meetings with administration officials, forcing Israeli officials to deny the last-minute invitation signals a snub to the hawkish premier.

Israeli prime ministers hardly ever go to Washington without meeting the US president, usually holding a press conference.

Israel's ties with the Obama administration had been strained over Netanyahu's refusal to heed the US demand for a full settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank ahead of a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.

As Washington's attempts to put the peace talks back on track after their suspension last December recently encountered serious setbacks, the White House appeared wary not to present Monday's meeting -- scheduled for 7:00 pm (0100 GMT Tuesday) and off-limits to reporters -- as a backing of Netanyahu's stance.

"The policy of the United States government for many decades has been: no more settlements, that's not something that is new (with) this administration," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said hours before the talks.

The Israeli Haaretz daily wrote that "the White House wanted Netanyahu to sweat before being granted an audience with the president, and wanted everyone to see him perspire."

Speaking at a Jewish gathering on Monday, Netanyahu again urged moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who last week announced he would not run for re-election, to immediately renew peace talks.

"I say today to Mahmud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, 'let us seize the moment to reach an historic agreement. Let us begin talks immediately,'" he said.

The talks come 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.

The first crisis came when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Netanyahu's offer of a limited easing of settlement construction as "unprecedented" during a visit to the region last week, triggering Palestinian and Arab fury.

The declaration marked a stark break from months of US support of the Palestinian demand for a total Jewish settlement freeze ahead of renewed talks.

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 restart talks without preconditions.

The Obama-Netanyahu meeting a little more than a week after Clinton's remarks would likely reinforce that view among Palestinians and the Arab world, analysts said.

Yet Netanyahu insisted that "no Israeli government has been so willing to restrain settlement activities as part of our efforts to relaunch peace talks."

The Palestinian Authority warned ahead of the meeting that violence could once again convulse the region if Washington fails to get Israel to halt its settlement activity.

"Violence will rush in to fill the void left by the failure of efforts to relaunch the peace process if the US administration does not hurry up and exert pressure on the Israeli government," presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.

Abbas's announcement that he would not seek re-election further complicated Obama's hopes to see Israelis and Palestinians return to the negotiation table.

Palestinian officials said the Palestinian leader's move came after he grew disappointed with the US stance on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the international community considers illegal.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was also in Washington for talks with his US counterpart Robert Gates and US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, his office said.

Netanyahu was meeting with lawmakers in Congress before the Oval Office talks. On Wednesday, he will head to Paris to meet President Nicolas Sarkozy, Israeli officials said.