Renewing negotiations with the Palestinians is "vital" for Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, after both sides agreed to lay the groundwork to resume talks frozen for three years.

"The resumption of the peace process is a vital strategic interest of the state of Israel," he said in a statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resume negotiations with the Palestinians "as soon as possible," the White House said.

The two leaders spoke by telephone as Secretary of State John Kerry made his latest trip to the region as part of marathon efforts to relaunch peace talks that last collapsed in 2010.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Washington on Wednesday that EU moves to end dealings with Jewish settlements were harming its peace talks drive, an Israeli official said.

In a telephone call with Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in neighboring Jordan on his latest bid to revive direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Netanyahu warned that the EU was "damaging efforts to restart the talks."

Iran on Tuesday accused arch-rival Israel of attempting to poison the mood against its moderate president-elect Hassan Rowhani, who has raised hope to end a dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called Rowhani "a wolf in sheep's clothing" who would "smile and build a bomb.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has bowed to Chinese pressure and barred intelligence officers from testifying in a U.S. lawsuit against the Bank of China, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The Yediot Aharonot, a top-selling daily in Israel, said Netanyahu's actions had irked the United States.

Israel's prime minister insisted Sunday that he will not allow "dangerous weapons" to reach Hizbullah, following reports that Israel recently carried out an airstrike in northern Syria against a shipment of advanced missiles.

The airstrike in Latakia reportedly targeted Russian Yakhont anti-ship missiles, one of the types of advanced weapons that Israeli officials have previously said they would not allow to reach Syria. It would be the fourth known airstrike against Syria this year.

Iran is moving "closer and closer" to building a nuclear weapon and Israel may have to act before the United States does, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday.

"They're edging up to the red line. They haven't crossed it yet," Netanyahu said on CBS News's "Face the Nation."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on Monday due to seek Italy's help in putting Hizbullah on a European Union list of “terrorist” organizations.

Ahead of talks with his Italian counterpart Enrico Letta, Netanyahu told reporters that Hizbullah is one of the most "pre-eminent terrorist organizations of our time," adding that the group currently poses the most immediate security threat to Israel, in remarks carried by the website of The Jerusalem Post.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived Monday for a shortened stay in Brunei for Asia security talks after speaking again to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on reviving peace talks.

Kerry had delayed his departure for the ASEAN bloc's conference in Brunei by a day as he shuttled between Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in hopes the two sides can restart peace talks after a nearly three-year hiatus.

Hardliners within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud are poised to seize key positions in the party's governing institutions on Sunday in a move likely to curb any concessions vis-a-vis the Palestinians.

The 3,600 members of the Likud Central Committee began voting at 0700 GMT for the leadership of three key institutions which were likely to fall into the hands of activists who firmly oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.