Binyamin Netanyahu addressed a major American Jewish conference on Monday, arguing there's still life in the moribund peace process.But the mood doesn't seem quite so positive in the White House.
Binyamin Netanyahu addressed a major American Jewish conference at a big hotel in Washington, DC on Monday and argued there's still life in the moribund peace process.
"My goal is to achieve a permanent peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians and soon ... it's high time that we stopped negotiating about the negotiations - lets get on with it. Lets move."
At one point, his speech was interrupted by a lone protester. "I have to say I got a better reception at the United Nations," he joked.
Among the rest of his audience, however, there was a far warmer welcome for the Israeli leader.
"I can't say whether they've done enough - enough is a hard word to say - but the attitudes - and I've been there many times - is that peace is what they want," one audience member said.
"I'm calling on Mr Abbas to release Gilad Shalit and then I think that Israel would be very open to considering settlements," said another.
A third, weighing in, said, "Sooner or later they have to come together. Because it's the right thing to do and that's what we're hoping for."
But the mood doesn't seem quite so positive in the White House as the administration appears to be distancing itself from Prime Minister Netanyahu. There was a delay before they agreed to a meeting and when Mr Netanyahu was squeezed into President Obama's schedule it was for a evening closed session.
According to some in the Israeli media, Benjamin Netanyahu is embarrassed and humiliated that his bilateral meeting with President Obama took so long to organise. It's leading to speculation in leading publications that the Tel Aviv/Washington relationship is in crisis.
This cooler approach towards Netanyahu, at least for now, comes just over a week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lauded the Netanyahu government for their - as she put it - unprecedented stand on limited settlement building.
And less than a week since President Mahmoud Abbas announced he'd not seek re-election in next January's Palestinian vote.
Meanwhile, as the politicians talk of peace - the reality of the aftermath of the Gaza war is still apparent in Gaza.
The U.N. is calling on Israel to allow unrestricted shipments of building supplies to house Palestinians left homeless by Israel's invasion just under a year ago.
Maxwell Gaylard, UN Coordinator for Palestinian Territories said:
" For the people of Gaza life is miserable. It's not getting any better winter is coming, rains are coming."
Israelis say they fear the building supplies will be used by Palestinian fighters but Gaza residents say they just want to build shelters for the coming winter.
