An Israeli official said Wednesday that the government had postponed a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Washington's top Mideast envoy George Mitchell because it wanted more time to iron out differences over West Bank settlements.
The meeting with Mitchell was to have taken place in Paris where Netanyahu is visiting. Netanyahu aides said Defense Minister Ehud Barak would instead meet Mitchell next week in Washington.
A senior official traveling with Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel sought more professional work before the meeting.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the U.S.-Israel discussions were confidential, said settlement construction was one of those issues.
He played down prospects for a swift breakthrough between Israel and the U.S. on the matter, saying: "A lot of hard work is needed to reach common ground."
Israel insists expansion of existing Jewish communities in the West Bank must be allowed in order to accommodate the natural growth of the communities through births and marriages.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement that the meeting was delayed in order to give Mitchell the opportunity to meet with Barak, Army Radio reported.
Last week, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Israel could not accept the Obama administration's demand to "completely" halt activity in West Bank settlements.
"We have no intention of changing the demographic balance in Judea and Samaria," Lieberman said during his talks with the secretary of state in Washington.
"Everywhere people are born, people die, and we cannot accept a vision of stopping completely the settlements. We have to keep the natural growth."
Still, he said, Israel "ready for direct negotiations with the Palestinians."
Clinton, for her part, reiterated that the U.S. viewed a total settlement freeze as "important and essential" step toward achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
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