Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday that he and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were going to Washington with the hope of setting up "proximity talks" that would lead to direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) "so that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen will enter one room so we can directly discuss all the subjects we disagree on."
The Labor party chairman's comments came at the end of his meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and their staffs. In addition to the negotiations between Israel and the PA, the meeting covered the situations in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.