Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu is considering pushing for a long-term interim agreement with the Palestinians in the absence of any moves to renew peace talks, press reports said yesterday.

The idea was splashed across all of Israel’s main newspapers as Palestinian negotiators held talks about resuming peace dialogue in Brussels with envoys of the Middle East Quartet of peacemakers – in a session which Israel declined to attend.

“The Palestinians are unwilling to enter into serious negotiations and therefore we should examine the idea of a long-term interim arrangement,” a senior source in the premier’s office told Israel Hayom, a newspaper considered close to Mr Netanyahu.

“In light of the instability in the region, the only possibility is to go for an interim arrangement, on condition that it is a long-term one – and this is what we are currently examining,” he said, referring the unrest sweeping the Middle East.

Details of the plan are still sketchy but the idea is believed to involve the establishment of a Palestinian state within temporary borders, while at the same time holding talks on the principles of final status issues, the Haaretz newspaper said.