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25 August 2009 19:21 BST

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/news/politics/settlement-freeze-on-agenda-as-netanyahu-in-london-$1320976.htm

Settlement freeze on agenda as Netanyahu in London

Tuesday, 25 Aug 2009 02:00

Gordon Brown to hold talks with visiting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu

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By Matthew Champion. 

Gordon Brown will today hold talks with Benjamin Netanyahu in London amid rumours his Israeli counterpart is close to agreeing a freeze on new settlements. 

The issue of Israeli settlers has driven a wedge between the Jewish state and its principle ally the US, with recent comments by members of Mr Netanyahu's cabinet exacerbating a growing problem. 

On his part, Mr Brown is a firm exponent of a two-state solution that Barack Obama says is the only solution to the Middle East peace process but the ruling Likud party refuses to explicitly accept. 

Standing beside Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in talks in London earlier this year, Mr Brown said: "Settlement expansion has made peace harder to achieve. 

"It erodes trust, it heightens Palestinian suffering, it makes the compromises Israel will need to make for peace more difficult. So we are very clear - not just Britain but the whole of the European Union - what should be done." 

There are reports however that Mr Netanyahu will use the London visit to finally accept the Obama administration plan is the only viable solution in order to head off growing discontent in Washington over recent remarks by his ministers. 

Avigdor Lierberman, the hard-line foreign minister in Mr Netanyahu's coalition government who himself lives on a settlement, said Mr Obama's dreams of a Palestinian state were "unrealistic". 

"Even in another 16 years, we won't have an agreement," he said. 

And deputy prime minister Moshe Ya'alon forced Mr Netanyahu to interrupt his holiday when he was recorded saying in a mobile phone conversation that he was "not afraid of the Americans". 

"There are moments when we must say, 'We've had it up to here'," he said. 

As Mr Netanyahu prepared to leave London a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister said: "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." 

At the very least the visit of his Israeli counterpart will provide Mr Brown with a distraction from the furore over the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al Megrahi by the Scottish government and his silence on the issue.