Israel has obligation to halt West Bank settlement growth: Obama

Israel has an obligation to freeze expansion of settlements in the West Bank, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday after a meeting in Washington with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Obamasaid Palestiniansmust also meet their obligations under the U.S.-shaped road map by reining in anti-Israel sentiment, along withincitement to violence in the territory'sschools and mosques.

The U.S. president, whose meeting with Abbas in the White House comes just 10 days aftera visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,also expressed confidence thatthe Israeli governmentwill recognize that a two-state solution is in the interests of its security.

"We are a stalwart ally of Israel and it is in our interest to ensure Israel is safe and secure," Obama said at a jointnews conference with Abbasin the Oval Office.

"It is our belief the best way to achieve that is to create the conditions on the ground and set the stage for a Palestinian state as well."

On Wednesday, Netanyahu said he's willing to take "concrete steps" to make peace with the Palestinians, and urged Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel.

EarlierThursday,Israel said it will press ahead with some construction on settlements in the West Bank, rebuffing an emphatic demand by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clintonthe day before that all such building stop.

Palestinian coalition must recognize Israel: Obama

Speaking in Arabic through a translator, Abbas said the Palestinians remain "fully committed to all road map obligations from A to Z."

ObamaaddedU.S. officialshave seen "great progress" in terms of security improvements in the West Bank, while he said he understands Abbas is under "enormous pressure" to bring about a unity government with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

The president also said he was "impressed and appreciative" that Abbas has insisted any Palestinian coalition government must recognize the principles laid out by the so-called Mideast Quartet the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

"In the absence of a recognition of Israel and a commitment to peace and a commitment to previous agreements that have already been made, it would be very hard to see any possibility of peace over the long term,"Obama said.

Hamas, which won Palestinianparliamentaryelections in 2006 and whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel,has been shunned by the international community for its refusal to recognize Israel or renounce violence.

Last December, theIsraeli militarylaunched ablistering22-day offensiveagainst theIslamist group in Gaza to curb rocket attacks from the coastal territory into southern Israel.

Israel: U.S. must allow for 'normal life' on settlements

Clinton said itwas clear that Obama'sdemandfor a freeze includes the "natural growth" that Israel insists is needed to accommodateexpanding families in existing settlements.

"He wants to see a stop to settlements not some settlements, not outposts, not 'natural growth' exceptions," Clinton said.

"We think it is in the best interests [of the peace process] that settlement expansion cease. That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly. And we intend to press that point."

Responding Thursday, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev saidthe future of the settlements would be decidedonly in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Until then, Regev said"normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue." He confirmed this meant some construction will continue in existing settlements.

Regevsaid Israel has pledged to build no new settlements in the West Bank and to remove so-called"outposts" or expanded compounds built off existing settlements without authorization from the Israeli government.

In recent years, Israeli troops have occasionally dismantled some of the outposts, only forsettlers to beginrebuildingthe structuresthe next day.

Obama is widely expected to announce details of his administration's Mideast peace plan during avisit to Egyptnext month.

Abbashas refused to restart peace negotiations with Israel until Netanyahu's government orders a freeze on all settlement construction on the lands the Palestinians aspire tohave forafuturestate.

More than 280,000 Jewish settlers live among more thantwo million Palestinians in the West Bank, which is referred to by some Jewish religious and Israeli nationalist groups as the biblical lands ofJudea and Samaria.

Palestinian officialsand Israelipeace groups, along with much of the international community, have decried the construction and expansion of all settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law although Israel disputes this.