NEW ORLEANS - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a US visit on Sunday to meet with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and discuss ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
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‘It is our fervent desire that the current impasse can be overcome and we see an expeditious return to direct talks with the Palestinians,’ Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said on board the prime minister’s flight from Tel Aviv to New Orleans.
Netanyahu meets Biden later in the day before the vice president speaks to an American Jewish conference. Netanyahu addresses the forum on Monday before a four-day visit to New York.
During the trip, he will not see President Barack Obama, who is on a visit to Asia. But the US visit will give Netanyahu an opportunity to gauge the impact of last weekÂ’s Republican rout of ObamaÂ’s Democrats in the midterm congressional elections. Netanyahu was scheduled to hold talks in New York with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moom on Monday and Clinton on Thursday, before flying home. |