by Gur Salomon, Yuan Zhenyu
JERUSALEM, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday morning left for Washington to attend an U.S.- proposed peace summit, which would be the first direct negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians since late 2008.
Before his trip to the U.S., the Israeli prime minister on Monday reassured Likud party hard-liners that he would handle direct peace negotiations with the Palestinians cautiously and would not compromise on security guarantees.
"I tell all of you to stop worrying. I don't think that any government will navigate (the peace talks) better than this (Likud) government," he said.
Netanyahu reaffirmed his commitment to the success of the newly- resumed negotiations, saying that he and the Israeli government wish to "move along with the Palestinians through a responsible path."
But the prospect of this parley is still overshadowed by a possible resumption of settlement construction.
Meeting with the Likud members at a pre-Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) toast in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu, in his last speech before leaving for Washington, reminded the hard-line activists, most of whom object to extending the construction moratorium in West Bank settlements, that he had relentlessly and consistently rejected to accepting any preconditions prior to entering direct talks with the Palestinians.
"We will make sure that any future (peace) agreement will be based on effective security arrangements," Netanyahu emphasized, adding "we will not be satisfied by only papers and promises. After we withdrew, up to the last centimeter, from Gaza and Lebanon we didn't get peace... (this time) we want (security) measures implemented on the ground."
On the other hand, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has made clear that it will leave the direct talks if Israel resumes settlement building.
Earlier Tuesday, local news service Ynet said that Shas (The Sephardi Torah Guardians), one of Netanyahu's coalition partner, is preparing to give the prime minister some "breathing space" after a 10-month moratorium on settlement building expires on September 26.
Shas officials were quoted as saying that the party's spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef supports direct talks and would agree to quietly freeze construction in West Bank settlements.
However, the rabbi has demanded that construction in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem all be renewed as soon as the building freeze hit an end.
Meanwhile, Israel is hoping to receive an arms package from the U.S. as compensation for future concessions it will have to make in a peace agreement with the Palestinians, The Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday.
According to the newspaper, U.S. officials responded positively to the possibility of supplying Israel with additional arms, including missile defense systems, in case the direct talks succeed and lead to a peace agreement in which Israel would lose security assets following a withdrawal from the West Bank.
