U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on Thursday to continue coordination on the peace talks with the Palestinians.
SIA, citing Xinhua, reports that in a phone conversation, Obama said the parties have much work to do in the talks, but he promised full support for their efforts to achieve peace, the White House said in a statement.
The two leaders agreed to continue close coordination, the statement noted. Obama also commended Netanyahu for his "leadership and courage" in resuming final status negotiations with the Palestinians.
Israel and Palestinians agreed to begin formal final status negotiations within two weeks either in Israel or Palestinian territories after their chief negotiators met in Washington on Monday and Tuesday to set the agenda and procedures for the negotiations.
They also agreed to put all the final status issues -- Jerusalem, security, the Jewish settlements, borders and refugees -- and all other issues on the table.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, whose intensive shuttle diplomacy restarted the peace talks, said on Tuesday that the objective of the United States, Israel and the Palestinians "will be to achieve a final-status agreement over the course of the next nine months."
One day before the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began their talks in Washington, the Israeli cabinet agreed to release 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners, and Israel has also slowed the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu's last direct talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in September 2010 lasted only three weeks due to the premier's refusal to extend a ban on settlement building in the West Bank.
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