Israeli opposition urges peace deal with Palestinians

The head of the Israeli parliament 's opposition said Sunday his party was ready to provide Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with "safety net" to make peace with Palestinians. The U.S.-brokered negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, ongoing since July, "constitute a historic opportunity for peace," said Issac Herzog, the newly-elected leader of Israel's Labor Party, after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Herzog told reporters that he felt that Abbas had "a real intention" to end the conflict, adding that he would convey this feeling to Netanyahu when they meet soon. "I hope that he (Netanyahu) would have the same intention. We will try to put pressure on the (Israeli) government to take courageous stances that would achieve peace and security to our children" Herzog said. Herzog voiced his party's opposition to the building and expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians seek to declare their future state along with the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency quoted Abbas as saying that the Palestinian side was committed in the negotiations' nine-month tenure, with the goal to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, based on the 1967 borders.