US President Barack Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing his expectation for Netanyahu's upcoming speech on Mideast peace process, the White House said Monday.
In "a constructive conversation", Obama reiterated the principle elements of his Cairo speech, including his commitment to Israel's security, and indicated that he looked forward to hearing Netanyahu's speech, said the White House.
In a historic speech last Thursday in Cairo, Obama, who vowed to seek a new beginning with Muslims, called the bond between the United States and Israel unbreakable, and that the Palestinian people's pursuit for a homeland undeniable.
The Israeli prime minister on Sunday told his cabinet members that he will specify a plan for Middle East peace in a major policy speech next week, and that Israel seeks peace with the Palestinians and the Arab world.
It is unclear whether Netanyahu will announce to freeze the Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and recognize the principle of the two-state solution in the speech, which is due on Sunday at Bar-Ilan University.
The hard-line prime minister, in his visit to the White House on May 18, was persuaded by Obama to freeze all the Jewish settlements activities, to accept the two-state solution and to resume peace talks with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu and his government, however, has yet to endorse the solution, which envisions two states, Israel and an independent Palestinian state, live side by side in peace and security.
The hardliners also dismissed Washington's call to stop the settlements expansion in the Palestinian occupied territories.
(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2009)
