Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is contemplating a solution that will enable the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, local media reported on Thursday.

The prime minister is currently negotiating a deal with the U.S. Obama administration in which Israel will freeze construction activity in West Bank settlements for several months in exchange for U.S. security guarantees, according to the reports.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in the meanwhile, said on Thursday that the Palestinians still hope that the United States would succeed in brokering a halt to Israel's building in the West Bank.

In an effort to prevent the collapse of the talks, which reached an impasse in late September following Israel's refusal to extend the settlement construction moratorium, U.S. President Barack Obama reportedly offered the Jewish state a tempting security package, which included, among other things, more F-35 fighter jets free of charge, early warning radar stations and continued Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley following a withdrawal from the West Bank in a future peace agreement with the Palestinians.

While the future of the stalled talks remains uncertain, the Israeli prime minister is now seeking to secure a substantially upgraded package from Washington, aimed to meet Israel's security needs in the coming decade, including advanced missile-defense systems and access to real-time intelligence from U.S. satellites, Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported on Thursday.

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday for further discussions on the impending deal.

In a meeting with senior U.S. journalists in New York on Wednesday, Netanyahu said he intends to discuss with Clinton the need to formulate broad Israeli-American understandings regarding Israel's security under any future peace agreement. "The chances of achieving a peace agreement will be significantly advanced by achieving comprehensive security understandings between Israel and the U.S.," he said.

Israeli officials estimated on Wednesday that an extension of the construction moratorium would exclude building new houses in and near Jerusalem, whose status has been a core issue in all negotiations held by Israel and the Palestinian National Authority since the mid-1990s.

The Palestinians claim Jerusalem's eastern side as the capital of their future state, while Israel insists that those areas will remain under its sovereignty.

The Israeli government has okayed earlier this week new construction tenders for over 1,000 apartments it plans to build in the disputed East Jerusalem, a move arousing criticism from the international community including Washington.

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