Protests greet Israel's Netanyahu on British visit

Some 300 demonstrators waving flags and "Free Palestine" banners staged a noisy protest in central London on Wednesday against the two-day visit to Britain this week of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Minor scuffles with police broke out as they surged into the main road outside the Downing Street residence of British Prime Minister David Cameron who will hold talks with Netanyahu on Thursday morning.

107,000 people in Britain have signed an online petition for Netanyahu's arrest after last year's fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel's embassy in London called the petition a "meaningless publicity stunt".

"Arrest Netanyahu" and "war criminal" they chanted, some holding up posters calling for an end to the blockade on Gaza as well as images of the Israeli leader plastered with the words "child killer". 

Last summer, Israel waged a 51-day war on Gaza which left more than 2,251 Palestinians dead, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers. 

Britain is pushing for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and "will reinforce this message to Mr Netanyahu during his visit," according to an official response to the petition. 

Netanyahu's office declined say what would be on the agenda for the talks, although the topic of internationally-illegal West Bank settlements is likely to come up.

Britain is one of a number of European countries which have been pushing for the separate labelling of products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israel is also deeply concerned by July's nuclear deal between Iran and major powers - including Britain.

Netanyahu will return to Israel on Friday.