Peres: Netanyahu, Abbas to meet at UN
US President Obama to hold three-way meeting with Israeli, Palestinian leaders in New York during UN General Assembly in late September, Israeli president confirms in FOX News interview. 'There is a chance they will decide to reopen negotiations,' he adds
According to the president, the meeting will be held at the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, which is scheduled to open on September 23.
In the interview, which will be aired Tuesday at 1 am (Israel time), Peres said the three-way meeting may serve as a catalyst for resuming the direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
"I think that at least there is a chance that they will decide they are going to reopen negotiations," Peres said. "But that will not include Hamas."
As for the demand to halt settlement construction, the president clarified that "on that particular issue, there is not yet an agreement. Negotiations are going on."
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's representatives, Yitzhak Molcho and Mike Herzog, are slated to visit the US in order to continue Israel's dialogue on the settlement issue with special US envoy George Mitchell.
"I do believe there is a solution for it as well," Peres said during the interview. "It must be soon. It's very hard to convince your own people to make so many concessions - to take so many risks. But this is the task of a leader to move ahead."
The president added that Prime Minister Netanyahu "is aware of the choice, and he knows there is no chance, no escape, no alternative to go ahead and make peace. He knows he must do it ... it's just not a simple proposition."
Addressing the Iranian nuclear threat, Peres told FOX News he is convinced by intelligence he has seen that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, and that Israel must work to convince other nations Iran is not only a threat to Israel.
