Renewing the ban on building new settler homes in the occupied West Bank appears to be key to salvaging peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, who say they will walk out if construction continues.

Findings from the poll published in the Yediot Aharonot daily indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will struggle to convince his coalition to back a reported US deal offering security and other guarantees in exchange for a further 60 days of settlement curbs.

Peace talks with the Palestinians, which began just a month ago, face imminent collapse over Israel's refusal to renew a freeze which expired on September 26.

A poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, also published on Monday, found that 66 percent of Palestinians want Abbas to pull out of the talks and that just 33 percent support his continuing them.

Washington has been working around the clock to lure Israel into renewing the freeze and convince the Palestinians to stick with the fledgling negotiations.

"We are in the midst of a process of delicate diplomatic contacts with the American administration in an effort to find a solution that will enable the talks to continue," Netanyahu told reporters at a weekly cabinet meeting on Monday.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Netanyahu had a "constructive" telephone conversation on Sunday.

"I can only say that they... discussed ideas on a path forward. Beyond that, I'm not going to get into specifics."

Crowley also said US Middle East envoy George Mitchell had returned to Washington following his nearly week-long tour of the Middle East that took him to Israel, the West Bank, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan.

The Washington Institute for Near East policy, a respected US think tank, reported last week that US President Barack Obama had offered "a string of assurances to Israel in return for a two-month moratorium extension."

The writer, David Makovsky, is head of the institute's programme on Middle East peace efforts and is considered close to senior White House adviser Dennis Ross, with whom he has co-authored a book on the subject.

"US officials indicate that the document makes commitments on issues ranging from current peace and security matters to future weapons deliveries in the event that peace-related security arrangements are reached," Makovsky wrote.

Netanyahu has not confirmed or denied the story.

Cabinet colleagues say that they have not been made privy to Netanyahu's dealings with Obama and could not confirm the existence of the reported US proposal.

"If there was such an offer we don't know about it officially, only through newspaper reports," Environment Minister Gilad Erdan told reporters on Sunday.

"The prime minister has made it clear that there has so far been no decision, and if there is a decision he will update cabinet ministers."

Although Netanyahu is reportedly willing to comply with Washington, he faces fierce resistance from within his coalition government, which is made up largely of far-right and religious parties who strongly back Jewish settlement of the occupied West Bank.

Of the 30 cabinet ministers, 15 oppose any renewal of the partial freeze, the newspaper poll said.

Another eight said they would back such a move, with the remaining seven undecided, meaning that even if Netanyahu managed to sway those on the fence he would still need to turn one of his 15 opponents.

"I personally object, obviously, to continuing the freeze," Erdan told reporters. "An additional freeze is in essence giving up in advance on communities in which we believe that Jews have a right to settle."

The Yediot Aharonot survey showed that eight of the 15 members of the powerful security cabinet were against any move to halt West Bank construction, with four in favour and three undecided.

It was that panel which approved the original 10-month moratorium last November.

Social Services Minister Isaac Hertzog told reporters he had asked Netanyahu to open the issue for debate when the security cabinet convenes on Wednesday.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has played a key role in mediating the dispute with Washington, is said to back a renewal of the freeze, while hardline Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is opposed.

earlier related report
West Bank mosque torched in attack blamed on settlers
Beit Fajjar, (AFP) Oct 4, 2010 - Vandals spray-painted and torched a mosque in the southern West Bank early on Monday in an attack Palestinian witnesses and officials blamed on Israeli settlers.

The attack came at a tense time, with direct peace talks on hold over the resumption of Israeli settlement construction in the occupied territory, and was condemned by both Israel and the United Nations.

Palestinian witnesses said six armed men in a white car drove into Beit Fajjar village near Bethlehem at 3:00 am (0100 GMT) and spray-painted Hebrew insults on the walls before setting the building alight.

Some of the group were wearing Jewish skullcaps and at least one wore a mask, they said, adding that the men appeared to be settlers.

Several Korans and prayer rugs were incinerated in the attack, according to Ali Sawabta of the local municipality.

The Israeli military described the attack as a "grave and serious incident" and said it had launched a manhunt for the perpetrators. Israeli police were also investigating the incident.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak also condemned the attack, saying: "Whoever did this is a terrorist in every sense of the word, and intended to hurt the chances for peace and dialogue with the Palestinians.

"This was a shameful act that besmirched the state of Israel and its values," he added in a statement issued by his office.

A spokesman for the UN envoy to the peace process said the attack was "shocking and completely unacceptable," and called on Israel to find the perpetrators and hold them to account.

The Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza, meanwhile, condemned what it called "the Zionist desecration of houses of God" and blamed the attack on increased security coordination between Israel and its rivals in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

Israeli police detained several settlers after a West Bank mosque was torched and vandalised in December 2009, and firefighters said another mosque fire in May this year was probably arson.

Hardline settlers have adopted what they call a "price tag" policy under which they attack Palestinians, their fields or villages, whenever the Israeli government takes measures to curb settlement construction.

They have also retaliated after deadly attacks by Palestinian militants, such as the one in late August when Hamas gunmen shot dead four settlers, including a pregnant woman, on a West Bank road.

The dispute over Jewish settlements has been at the heart of US-led shuttle diplomacy aimed at rescuing Israel-Palestinian peace talks after a ban on building new settler homes in the West Bank expired on September 26.

The Palestinians view the presence of some 500,000 Israelis in scores of settlements across the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem as a major impediment to the establishment of their promised state.

The international community views all the settlements as illegal, and the dispute has been one of the thorniest issues in past peace talks.

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