国际英语新闻：Israel sees no movement in talks with Palestinians until after U.S. midterms

JERUSALEM, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Contacts between Israel and the Palestinians will not resume until after the U.S. congressional elections in November, sources in Israeli prime minister's office said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, contacts between Israel and the United States over the possibility of renewing talks continue, against a backdrop of an American demand that Israel freeze settlement construction for an additional two months.

Several weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would be prepared to carry out another freeze if the Palestinians would recognize Israel as a Jewish state. However, Netanyahu's office said that they're not ruling out the possibility of a freeze even without such a Palestinians declaration - pending the U.S. fulfilling a series of promises to Israel.

"We are constantly seeking ways to restart talks with the Palestinians, but haven't succeeded, so far. We estimate that nothing new will happen until after the congressional elections at the beginning of November," a senior source in Netanyahu's office told Xinhua.

"The American demand to continue the freeze is still in effect, but, so far, no formula has been found that will allow that," the source said, adding "as things look now, the total moratorium as it's been implemented in the past ten months will not happen again. What is possible is a limitation on the extent of construction for a limited period."

Officials close to Netanyahu said they are uncertain about the development of the peace talks after the U.S. congressional elections. Additionally, no one in Netanyahu's circle is willing to answer the question of whether the relationship between the U.S. and Israel will continue to be friendly and close, as evinced over the past few weeks, or if the U.S. President Barack Obama's administration will return to the tough attitude that characterized the relations between the two countries since Netanyahu was elected prime minister.

Next month, Netanyahu will likely travel to the General Assembly of Jewish Federations of North America to be held in New Orleans. He expects to meet with Obama in Washington, but, so far, no meeting has been scheduled between the two.