Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the coming days.
Israel Radio said Mr Olmert made the statement in an interview that will be broadcast in full later today.
The international community hopes such a meeting - which would be the first formal summit between the two leaders - could lead to a resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Peace talks collapsed in 2000 before the start of a Palestinian uprising.
Mr Olmert also said in the interview that he would not consider freeing Palestinian prisoners before an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza is released.
"I don't make any gestures at the expense of the lives of Israeli soldiers," Mr Olmert said in excerpts of the interview that were aired by Israel Radio.
"Until Gilad Shalit is freed, I won't deal with the matter of freeing Palestinian prisoners," he said, referring to the soldier captured in a cross-border raid by militants from Gaza on June 25th.
Israel refuses to have any contact with the Palestinian government run by militant Islamist movement Hamas, which defeated Mr Abbas's Fatah group in January elections.