Israel hails ‘progress’ in talks on curbing settlement expansion

Jerusalem, March 23 (IANS) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Wednesday that there has been "significant progress" in recent US-Israeli talks about curbing the settlements expansion in the West Bank settlements, Israeli media reported.

"There has been significant progress in the talks regarding the construction of the settlements," Netanyahu told reporters in China before embarking on a flight back to Israel that concluded his week-long visit, Xinhua reported.

Officials with Donald Trump's administration and an Israeli delegation headed by Netanyahu's chief of staff, Yoav Horwitz, started on Monday a series of talks in Washington to achieve understanding over the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"The talks have yet to conclude, but there is a progress of which I will hear when I arrive back in Israel," Netanyahu said.

The talks follow a visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah by US President Donald Trump's Special Representative, Jason Greenblatt. Greenblatt held several separate meetings with Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli leaders including President Reuven Rivlin and head of the opposition, Isaac Herzog.

In a joint statement, Greenblatt and Netanyahu said they "made progress on the issue of Israeli settlement construction, following up on President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu's agreement in Washington last month to work out an approach that reflects both leaders' views."

Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War and had been controlling these lands ever since, despite international condemnation.

The US considers the settlements, constructed on lands where the Palestinians wish to establish their future state, as an obstacle to peace.