Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday announced that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would be visiting Israel in the coming days to discuss the future of the peace process, as well as sanctions against Iran. He expressed hope that exploratory talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Amman would act as a springboard for direct negotiations. "The signs are not particularly good, but I hope they will rebound and we can make progress," Netanyahu stated at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting. Netanyahu added that Israel was interested in continuing exploratory talks with the Palestinians with a view of moving towards "concrete negotiations." He was critical of the Palestinians, saying that, thus far, "they have refused to discuss with us our security needs."