PM offers Obama additional gestures to get Abbas on board in peace talks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed additional Israeli gestures to the Palestinian Authority during his White House meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama Monday night, in an effort to persuade PA President Mahmoud Abbas to agree to resume talks with Israel.

An Israeli source who was briefed on the meeting said Netanyahu had stressed to Obama that his oft-stated desire to advance the peace process was sincere, not just lip service.

The road to arranging the meeting was rocky and humiliating for Netanyahu, and it seems the Americans tried to give it the lowest possible diplomatic and media profile even after agreeing to hold it. Afterward, the White House issued a laconic statement that did not even describe the meeting as "positive" or "good."

It merely said the two leaders had discussed bilateral issues, and continued: "The President reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel's security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues. The President and the Prime Minister also discussed Iran and how to move forward on Middle East peace."

Moreover, no photographs of the two men together have been released. The video photographer for the Israel Government Press Office was not allowed to enter the meeting room, and the stills photographer was allowed to enter but not publish the pictures he took.

In addition, the meeting took place late at night, and Netanyahu arrived in an ordinary van rather than the state limousine in which guests are usually brought to the White House for meetings with the president.

Yesterday, Netanyahu flew to Paris, where he will meet today with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Before taking off, however, he told reporters that descriptions of his meeting with Obama as tense were "nonsense." The meeting, he said, was "focused and positive," and dealt with matters of great importance to Israel's security.

"How important this meeting was will become clear in the future," he said.

A source in Netanyahu's entourage said a large part of the meeting, including the time the two leaders spent together privately, was devoted to Netanyahu's efforts to persuade Obama that he was serious about wanting to advance the peace process and reach an agreement on establishing a Palestinian state.

The source said Netanyahu wants to "turn over a new leaf" with Obama. "There's a feeling that a new channel has been opened with the president that wasn't there before," he added.

Another source who was briefed on the meeting said its results "will soon be felt with regard to advancing the peace process."

Both Netanyahu's office and the White House kept silent about the details of the meeting, however. Netanyahu canceled both a planned post-meeting briefing for Israeli reporters in Washington and planned interviews with Israeli radio stations - at the Americans' insistence, Israeli sources said. And White House spokesman Robert Gibbs declined to say yesterday whether the president thought progress had been made on advancing the peace process.

The meeting lasted about an hour and 40 minutes, Netanyahu's office said. Half of this time was a private session, and half included other officials, among them Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones.