U.S. won't demand east Jerusalem freeze

JERUSALEM, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama has reportedly agreed to exclude east Jerusalem from any future settlement freeze, Israeli and western officials said.

The officials stressed the United States will not endorse the building of Jewish housing in the predominantly Arab part of Jerusalem but will not publicly condemn the construction either, Haaretz said Thursday

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's proposed settlement freeze will exclude some 2,500 housing units already under construction, the paper said. The prime minister also wants permission from the U.S. administration, to build public buildings such as kindergartens and schools in the West Bank settlements, the report said.

Netanyahu, in Germany on a two day visit, reportedly suggested imposing a temporary nine-month building freeze on West Bank settlements at a Wednesday meeting in London with George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, an Israeli government official told the paper.

Mitchell will visit Israel in the second week of September to finalize the deal, the paper said.