We must learn lessons from past
Creative thinking and original solutions are key to the success of the peace process and the progress of the direct talks, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told
but the cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Debriefing his ministers on his trip to Washington for the launch of the direct talks, the prime minister said that the resolution of the complex issues at hand would require Israel to learn lessons from the decisions made in the past, and to think "outside the box."
The prime minister praised fellow Washington attendees Egyptian President Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II for their involvement in the process so far, saying that he feels there are other Arab nations now willing to participate in working towards peace in the region as a whole.
"Even if there are important countries in the Arab world that have yet to line up behind the peace process," he said, "this is the time to try and complete a peace settlement between us and the Palestinians and to expand it into a broader cycle of peace."
Netanyahu told the cabinet that he had held a "long, private meeting" with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and that he hoped the conversation in Washington was the beginning of a "direct, continuous and reliable link."
