A ‘no’ vote for a new peace deal in the Knesset

An Israeli official said Sunday that he does not want a new Israeli-Palestinian peace deal to be signed during a visit to the United States, after a series of Israeli officials expressed doubts that such a move would make it possible.
Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly’s annual session in New York, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, said the country would be looking to make the U.S. a “major source of funding” for peace efforts in the region.
Hotovely said the move could pave the way for an Israeli government that will not only support a Palestinian state but also support peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
On Friday, Israel had promised that the next round of peace talks would be held at the end of the month.
But some of the Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have expressed doubts over that timetable.
Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to the U., along with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Secretary of State John Kerry, on the eve of the UN General Assembly meeting.
The two sides have also been talking about an extension of the deadline for talks to the summer of 2019.
A U.R. peace envoy said in a report released Saturday that he believes the talks would need to start again in the coming weeks.
The U.K.-based Palestine Liberation Organization said the current timetable for peace talks was “excessive.”
The PA said it would also oppose any delay to the talks that would jeopardize the creation of a Palestinian homeland and would undermine the prospects of peace between Israelis, Palestinians and Syrians.