JERUSALEM, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that a UN-drafted, U.S.-backed proposal for dealing with Iran's enriched uranium was "a positive first step" towards stopping Tehran from acquiring nuclear military capability.

    Netanyahu made the remarks during his meeting in Jerusalem with visiting U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who arrived in Israel on Thursday to push for regional peace.

    Netanyahu began the meeting by expressing his "appreciation for the president's ongoing efforts to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear military capability," referring to the latest UN initiative to diminish the threat of an Iranian atom bomb.

    "I think the proposal which the president made in Geneva to have Iran withdraw its enriched uranium, or a good portion of it, outside Iran is a positive first step in that direction," said the Israeli prime minister in a statement.

    "I support and appreciate the president's ongoing effort to unite the international community to address the challenge of Iran's attempts to become a nuclear military power," he added.

    The enrichment proposal was meant not only to assist Iran in powering a small research reactor in Tehran, but also to build trust between the negotiating parties by ensuring that the exported material would not be enriched beyond the grade needed for peaceful nuclear development, and also that the country's remaining uranium stockpile would not be sufficient to build a nuclear weapon, said local daily The Jerusalem Post.

    Iran had at first hinted that it would accept the proposal, but Western diplomats said this week that Tehran had rejected the plan, added the newspaper.

    In his meeting with Mitchell, Netanyahu said that "I look forward to our discussions, and the discussions with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to try to re-launch the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians as soon as possible."

    Clinton is expected to arrive in Israel on Saturday night to push for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which have been suspended since the Israeli army's Cast Lead Operation in the Gaza Strip in January. The visit will be her first official trip to Israel since the Netanyahu government took office.

    For his part, Mitchell said that "I look forward to our discussions to achieve our common objective of a comprehensive peace in the region."

    Mitchell's meeting with Netanyahu came amid low expectations in Israel of progress and concern that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) election campaign would make launching negotiations even more difficult than before as rival factions Hamas and Fatah begin to court the popular vote.

    Following the meeting, Mitchell left for Abu Dhabi, where Clinton was slated to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said The Jerusalem Post, adding that Mitchell will return to Israel for follow-up talks on Sunday.