Monday, November 9, 2009

PM's aide:Hope the meeting will strengthen the channel of communication between Netanyahu and Obama

(Haaretz).After Israeli officials said over the past several weeks that Netanyahu hoped to see Obama, was widely seen as a sign of strained relations between the two leaders.

Netanyahu's media adviser Nir Hefetz said Monday following the address that "on our side there is no tension. Molcho, the prime minister's special envoy sat with [U.S. Middle East envoy] George Mitchell's team earlier today and they prepared the [Netanyahu-Obama] meeting. Naturally it will focus on the Palestinian issue and we hope that the meeting will strengthen and deepen the channel of communication between the prime minister and President Obama, and that it will prompt the resumption of peace talks."