Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not ruling out the possibility of a referendum if the general framework of a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA) is reached in a year. Netanyahu is on his way back to Israel following the ceremonial re-opening of direct talks between the two sides and a closed-door meeting with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday.

Members of the prime minister's travelling party said that implementation of a peace agreement will take a long time, will be carried out in stages, and will be checked from time to time to be sure that steps are not taken that cannot be corrected.