Jerusalem: US President Barack Obama has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet him at the White House, even as the Israeli leader rebuffed a key US demand to halt settlement construction in east Jerusalem.
The invitation for the Tuesday meeting to discuss Middle East peace efforts was handed to Netanyahu by Obama`s Middle East envoy George Mitchell at the start of a meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu`s office said.
US Vice President Joe Biden will host Netanyahu for dinner on Monday.
Biden will welcome the Israeli leader to his official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, on the eve of Netanyahu`s meeting with Obama, the White House said.
The US vice president was in Israel less than two weeks ago when an Israeli announcement on the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem sparked an argument between Washington and the Israeli government.
Biden condemned the substance and the timing of the announcement but later said he accepted Netanyahu`s expressed regret for the incident.
Earlier, Netanyahu vowed there would be no halt to settlement building in east Jerusalem, but in an apparent concession to Washington, he said Israel was willing to widen the scope of planned indirect talks with the Palestinians.
His comments on settlements were quickly denounced by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as unhelpful to attempts to restart talks.
Abbas also condemned the weekend killing of four Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli forces.
"Our policy on Jerusalem is the same as all previous governments of Israel for the last 42 years, it has not changed," Netanyahu said ahead of Sunday`s weekly cabinet meeting.
"As far as we are concerned, building in Jerusalem is the same as building in Tel Aviv and this is something we have made very clear to the US administration."
The hardline premier said he had spelled out his position in a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had demanded a series of Israeli steps to end a crisis over settlement-building in the Holy City.
Bureau Report
