**US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spoken by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.**Mr Netanyahu clarified Israel’s construction policy in East Jerusalem and proposed “trust-building measures” with the Palestinians, his office said.
This represented “a real effort by Israel to aid the US administration in renewing negotiations” which have been stalled for more than a year, it added.
Mrs Clinton will attend a Middle East Quartet meeting in Moscow on Friday.
Earlier, Russia’s foreign minister said representatives would “search for ways out of the current dangerous impasse in the peace process”.
The Palestinians said it would be very difficult to hold the indirect “proximity talks” after the decision by the municipal authorities in Jerusalem last week to expand the settlement of Ramat Shlomo, while US envoy George Mitchell postponed a trip to the region.