Israel will try to woo Palestinians

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The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has pledged to implement a series of trust-building measures with the Palestinians in an attempt to mend his fractured relationship with the US.

The assurances came as police in Jerusalem prepared for another day of rioting by Palestinian protesters, and the air force bombed six targets in the Gaza Strip following a rocket attack that killed a Thai citizen working in southern Israel.

In a phone call with the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu said Israel was serious about resuming peace talks with the Palestinians. In order to encourage the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, back to the negotiating table, Mr Netanyahu has reportedly undertaken to release some of the estimated 6000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons for political reasons.

He also raised the possibility of removing some of the more than 500 Israeli military checkpoints that impede the movement of Palestinians around the West Bank, and signalled a willingness to discuss the possibility of transferring more land to the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel's relationship with the US has been under pressure since a visit to Jerusalem by the Vice-President, Joe Biden, this month was upstaged by the announcement that Israel had approved 1600 apartments for Jewish settlers on Palestinian land.

Since taking office in 2009, Barack Obama has taken a hard line against Israel's settlement policy, demanding that it halt all construction until it concludes a final peace agreement with the Palestinians with defined borders.

Mrs Clinton has made it clear the Obama administration views the 1600 units as a breach of private undertakings made by Mr Netanyahu to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The US, like Australia, regards all territory seized by Israel in the 1967 war as occupied land, and does not recognise these areas as being part of Israel.

Yet, despite promising various confidence-building measures, Mr Netanyahu is expected to defy Mrs Clinton's demand that he cancel the 1600 new units in East Jerusalem.

The Washington Post said one possible compromise would be for Mr Netanyahu to make sure there are no further announcements of housing projects in the eastern part of Jerusalem.

The US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, is expected to arrive in Israel today for a meeting with Mr Netanyahu tomorrow. He will also meet Mr Abbas to try to resuscitate a proposal that Israel and the Palestinians start low-level ''proximity talks''.

On Monday, Mr Netanyahu will travel to Washington for the annual conference of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, where he is scheduled to meet Mrs Clinton.

- © Fairfax NZ News