Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is not ruling out holding a referendum on any framework agreement he reaches with the Palestinians, Israel Radio reported Friday, as the Israeli leader was heading home from Washington after relaunching direct peace talks, DPA reported.
Citing officials in Netanyahu's entourage, the radio said the implementation of any peace treaty would take time, take place in stages, and would undergo periodic examination.
Netanyahu and Abbas, meeting in Washington Thursday to relaunch the first direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in close on two years, pledged to reach a peace agreement in a year's time and to hold a second round of talks on September 14-15.
The agreed to continue to meet every two weeks thereafter with the goal of securing a deal.
The two sides also pledged to produce a framework agreement that would outline the compromises required to resolve the main issues that have for decades been the focus on disagreement and derailed previous peace efforts.
The framework agreement would serve as the basis for an eventual peace treaty.