British, Israeli PMs to meet amid Mideast peace drive

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet his British counterpart Gordon Brown on Tuesday as efforts gain pace to relaunch the dormant Middle East peace talks within weeks.

The hawkish Netanyahu, who will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Thursday, will also discuss with his hosts international efforts to halt archfoe Iran's nuclear drive as the United States threatens new sanctions if Tehran fails to return to the negotiating table.

He will also meet in London US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell who is pressing Israel hard to freeze settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Britain and Germany are among the many states to back the US demand, seen as key for reviving the peace talks which were halted last December when Israel launched a deadly offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu appeared to be digging his heels in, although he has agreed to temporarily halt inviting construction tenders for Israeli homes in the occupied West Bank, which Obama termed a step in the right direction.

"In his meeting with George Mitchell, the prime minister expects some progress but not a breakthrough," a senior official told reporters.

"The prime minister will make it clear that during the process Israel will not allow any limitation or restriction of its sovereignty over Jerusalem and that there must be guarantees settlers can lead a normal life," he said.

The issue of Israeli settlements, which the international community consider illegal, is one of the main obstacles in the peace process and the Palestinians have said they will not resume talks without a freeze.

On Sunday Netanyahu said he hoped the rare public row over settlements with Israel's main ally would end in the coming weeks to allow the renewal of peace talks by the end of September.

A senior government official told AFP efforts were underway to set a three-way meeting with Obama and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next month.

"We hope the conditions will ripen to allow a meeting with Abbas and Obama in New York as a symbolic launching of peace talks. This seems feasible at this point," he said.

There was no Palestinian reaction to the statement.

The US State Department echoed optimism on peace talks, spokesman Ian Kelly saying he was hopeful they would restart "very soon."

"I don't want to go into the details of exactly why, but just to say that we are hopeful that we can resume very soon," Kelly told reporters in Washington.

But chances of seeing a breakthrough in the peace talks -- first launched in 1993 -- appear slim with Netanyahu heading a hardline government and the Palestinians still unable to bridge a deep internal rift.

Netanyahu's outspoken Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has described Obama's vision for regional peace as "unrealistic," saying he did not see a peace deal based on a two-state solution "even in another 16 years."

Mitchell, in a series of regional missions, has also been urging Arab states to also make gestures towards Israel as a way of advancing efforts to forge a comprehensive peace deal.

King Abdullah II of Jordan -- which along with Egypt is the only Arab state to have a peace treaty with Israel -- held telephone talks with Netanyahu on Sunday and is due to meet his Saudi counterpart King Abdullah this week.

Netanyahu's talks with the European leaders are also set to focus on efforts to halt Iran's sensitive nuclear work, which Israel and the West believe is aimed at developing an atomic bomb, a claim Tehran denies.

Israel, considered the region's sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, refuses to rule out military action against Iran's nuclear facilities and has carried out a number of military exercises seen as a signal of its intentions.

Although Washington continues to seek a negotiated resolution of the nuclear standoff, the White House this month threatened tough new sanctions on Iran if it misses a September deadline for resuming talks.