THE US President, Barack Obama, will use the threat posed by Iran's fledgling nuclear weapons program as a means to bring Israel and the Palestinians together for a new peace summit scheduled for late next month.
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In return for a tougher array of United Nations sanctions against Iran targeting the country's vast oil and gas reserves, Israel will be expected to freeze all construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The Guardian reported that details of the proposed deal were scheduled to be hammered out yesterday at a meeting in London between the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the US Middle East envoy, George Mitchell. In the words of one official quoted by the newspaper: ''The message is: Iran is an existential threat to Israel; settlements are not.''
After a meeting with the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, on Tuesday, Mr Netanyahu said tougher sanctions against Iran would make Israel less likely to stage a military strike against its uranium enrichment facilities.
''Time is running out,'' Mr Netanyahu said of halting Iran's nuclear ambitions. ''It is late in the day, but it is not too late.
''[Iran] is far weaker than meets the eye. If the resolve of the responsible members of the international community is strong and firm, the future can be secure. I think the stronger those actions are today, the less there will be the need for stronger actions tomorrow.''
Israel radio reported yesterday that Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, had confirmed that Mr Netanyahu, the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and Mr Obama might meet next month.
A senior Israeli Government official who was authorised to speak to the Herald said that while there had been significant progress between Israel and the US on the details of a proposed settlement freeze, it was still too early to expect an announcement of a summit. ''We do not expect an announcement to be made this week,'' the official said. ''But we do not rule out the possibility of a summit along the timetable being suggested.''
In addition to tougher action on Iran, Israel is seeking normalisation of relations with Arab states. But the official confirmed that the US had been using the existential threat to Israel posed by Iran as leverage.
''The link was first made not by the Americans, but by Israel,'' the official said.
France and Russia have approached the US offering to host a peace conference, The Guardian reported.
It said Mr Obama had pencilled in the announcement of his breakthrough late next month at either a UN General Assembly meeting in New York or the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
