Await plan to restart Mideast talks

JERUSALEM, April 19 (UPI) -- The pressure is mounting for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to reveal his plan for restarting Mideast peace talks, diplomatic observers say.

Netanyahu has hinted he will announce a bold initiative by May for resuming talks with the Palestinians and ending the occupation of the West Bank, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

It may happen when he visits the United States next month and delivers a speech to a joint session of Congress.

U.S. and European diplomats continue to prod the Israeli leader to lay out his vision or face an endorsement of a Palestinian state by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations based on 1967 borders.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned last week that the international community is losing patience with the stalled peace process.

"The status quo between Palestinians and Israelis is no more sustainable than the political systems that have crumbled in recent months," Clinton told the U.S.-Islamic Forum in Washington.

Netanyahu's conservative government endorsed a two-state solution at the start of his term two years ago.