Some members of Benjamin Netanyahu's own Likud party and groups representing thousands of Jewish settlers have already rejected this plan to resume a building moratorium in settlements on the occupied West Bank. But the Israeli prime minister thinks he can muster enough support for the American proposals in his right-wing cabinet, because they include several attractive defence and security guarantees for Israel.
The Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said the time has come for the US to reduce military operations that disrupt daily life in the country. His comments put him at odds with the US commander General David Petraeus, as Quentin Sommerville reports from Kabul.
President Karzai wants American troops off the streets of Afghanistan and out of Afghan homes. In an interview with the Washington Post, he said that the time had come to reduce military operations and their intrusiveness into Afghan life. But the president acknowledged that an abrupt withdrawal would be dangerous, although he said the United States should start drawing down troop numbers next year. A surge of 30,000 troops has meant a dramatic increase in military operations in Afghanistan, and there's been a rise in the number of special forces missions in the country directed at removing mid- and senior-level commanders of the insurgency.
Meanwhile, insurgents in eastern Afghanistan have attacked a convoy of tankers carrying fuel for the Nato forces there. At least 12 were destroyed near the city of Jalalabad.