Israel's leader faces U.S. pressure on settlements

By Susan Cornwell and Jeffrey Heller

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced fresh pressure Tuesday from the United States to freeze Jewish settlement activity that Palestinians see as an impediment to peace.

Netanyahu, on his first visit to Washington since taking over as prime minister less than two months ago, resisted the pressure. He also said Palestinians need to make concessions, and underscored Israeli worries about Iran.

Making the rounds on Capitol Hill, Netanyahu held talks with Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who raised the settlement issue.

"I emphasized to the prime minister the importance of moving forward, especially in respect to the settlement issue," Kerry said.

The message was the same from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who told reporters she played host to the Israeli leader at a Monday night dinner and stressed President Barack Obama's position that "he wants to see a stop to the settlements."

The United States and the European Union view all Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law and obstacles to peace. Netanyahu, who heads a new right-leaning Israeli coalition, has resisted calls to freeze the expansion of Jewish settlements.

He told reporters that Israel is ready to resume the peace process and that the Palestinians "have to take concrete steps to improve relations with Israel."

Netanyahu, a familiar figure in Washington because of his prior stint as prime minister during an earlier, failed attempt to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, is eager to avoid alienating the United States, Israel's biggest ally.