Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has claimed that talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) will move forward following the midterm elections in the United States.

"There are elections in the US today (Tuesday), and I suppose that it will take them a few weeks after the elections to settle in," the Israeli news website Ynet quoted Barak as saying during a visit to a high school in Emek Hamaayanot Regional Council in northern Israel.

"I hope and believe that we can see real progress in the negotiations in the next few months," he added.

The United States, a declared unconditional ally of the Israeli regime, has sponsored and promoted direct talks between PA officials and Tel Aviv leaders. The first round of the talks was held in Washington on September 2.

However, the negotiations soon ran into a major obstacle due to Israel’s insistence on resuming construction of settlements in occupied Palestinian territories following the expiry of a 10-month partial freeze on September 26.

Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly threatened to walk out of the talks with Israel if Tel Aviv refuses to halt its settlement activities in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Palestinians have staged protest rallies in the occupied northern West Bank town of Nablus as well as the blockaded Gaza Strip, demanding an end to the talks, citing persistence of total US backing of Israeli policies to the detriment of Palestinian rights and interests.

(Press TV)