Jerusalem, March 22: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had told Washington in writing, just before heading for talks with US President Barack Obama, that Israel would not stop Jewish settlement around Jerusalem.
The settlement issue, accompanied by mounting violence in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians in two days, is challenging renewed efforts by US envoy George Mitchell to get peace talks under way.
"Our policy on Jerusalem is the same policy followed by all Israeli governments for the 42 years, and it has not changed. As far as we are concerned, building in Jerusalem is the same as building in Tel Aviv," Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday.
"I believed it would be of great importance for these things not to remain in the context of commentary or speculation. I subsequently wrote a letter, at my own initiative, to the secretary of state so that things would be crystal clear."
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Netanyahu spoke by telephone on Thursday in an attempt to defuse a vocal US-Israeli dispute over settlement in areas around East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967.
Israel's announcement -- during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden two weeks ago -- that it would build 1,600 homes for Jews near East Jerusalem embarrassed Washington and stymied the start of indirect peace talks with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu was flying to Washington on Sunday after meeting Mitchell. He is to address the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC on Monday, and an aide said he would meet Obama on Tuesday.
Clinton last week gave the first sign of a softer US tone, saying Netanyahu had made "useful and productive" comments.
She gave no details. Israeli media said Netanyahu had refused to shelve the housing project, but had agreed to confidence-building steps such as freeing Palestinian prisoners and easing a blockade of Gaza.
In the latest West Bank bloodshed, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians who tried to stab soldiers, the army said.
Palestinian officials cited witnesses alleging the men had been killed in cold blood after being arrested.
On Saturday, soldiers shot two Palestinian teenagers during a stone-throwing protest against Israeli settlement policy.
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