Occupied Jerusalem: Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu was on Tuesday to convene ministers in his inner circle reportedly to debate extending the colony freeze just days ahead of a key meeting of Arab foreign ministers.
"There will be a meeting of the seven," a senior government official told AFP, referring to the Israeli premier's Forum of Seven top ministers.
He refused to say what the ministers would discuss during the meeting, which is expected to take place during the afternoon.
Israeli media reports said the meeting was likely to focus on the issue of a 60-day extension of the colony freeze in exchange for a US deal offering security and other guarantees, details of which were leaked by a top US analyst last week.
Israel's army radio said Netanyahu was to discuss the reported US proposal in a bid to win over hardline opponents within his inner circle.
"Netanyahu is looking for a way out," the radio's political commentator said.
"On one hand, he is against a renewal of the freeze because he doesn't want to give in to Palestinian demands, but on the other hand, he also wants to avoid a direct
confrontation with the US administration."
Following Tuesday's talks, Netanyahu was on Wednesday to convene his 15-member security cabinet, the official said, again refusing to give details of what they would discuss.
Netanyahu was likely to use both forums to try to achieve some kind of compromise over the settlements ahead of a key Arab summit in Libya later this week at which the Palestinians were expected to formalise a decision to bolt the peace talks.
