PA President Mahmoud Abbas (right) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Photo: wiki commons.

Israeli sources with close ties to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said that he is willing to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to advance the peace process.

According to sources cited in the  London-based Al-Hayat newspaper , Netanyahu expressed a desire to meet with Abbas as a goodwill gesture towards the White House, which has stated a critical need for resuming peace talks and initiating the resumption of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

According to the sources Netanyahu said he is willing to meet with Abbas in Ramallah or Jerusalem in order to resume peace talks between the two sides.

According to Israeli daily Maariv, Abbas declared Wednesday that he is willing to cooperate with any Israeli government to stop settlement construction and recognize a Palestinian state within the ’67 lines. A spokesperson for Abbas, Nabil Adu Rodeineh, added that Israel must recognize the decision of the UN General Assembly on Palestinian statehood with its capital in East Jerusalem.

However, the Al-Hayat’s sources said that the Israeli prime minister would only return to direct talks with the Palestinians without preconditions. The article added that the sources may simply be leaking the information in an effort to influence Netanyahu’s formation of the next government coalition.