国际英语新闻：Israeli PM leaves for Washington peace summit

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.