Jerusalem:
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday spoke to Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas and vowed to resume talks and cooperation with Palestinians in order to advance mutual peace efforts.
In the first phone call after taking office, Netanyahu said "he intended to resume" talks and cooperation with the Palestinians for the sake of promoting peace, Haaretz newspaper quoted an official statement as saying.
Netanyahu recalled past cooperation and conversations with Abbas and told him how he intended to maintain this in the future, the statement said.
Today's conversation initiated by Abbas who called Netanyahu to extend holiday greetings for Passover. Abbas said that both sides needed to work for peace. The statement did not mention the creation of a Palestinian state which is apposed by Netanyahu.
It was Netanyahu's first statement on the peace process since he took office on April 1. His opposition to "two-state solution" has sparked concern over the fate of the stalled negotiations.
The phone call was the first contact between the two leaders since Netanyahu became prime minister for the second time. He last held the post from 1996 to 1999.