Israel awaits US letter outlining settlement freeze terms

JERUSALEM: Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is awaiting written details of a US package of incentives in exchange for a new West Bank settlement freeze before convening his security cabinet, officials said on Tuesday.

The premier is currently weighing the US proposal, details of which were outlined during talks last week with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

He has promised to put it to his 15-member security cabinet -- but only after receiving written details of the offer.

"There are understandings between the US secretary of state and the prime minister but it takes time for them to be put in writing, and we have to wait," Nir Hefetz, a senior Netanyahu adviser, told Israel's army radio.

"No date has been set for the cabinet meeting because we have to wait for the written clarifications from the Americans," he said.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu said that details of the proposal were still being hammered out, and a source close to the negotiations said the premier was "holding out" over a number of conditions.

But on Tuesday, another senior Israeli official accused the Palestinians of holding up the letter's arrival, saying their complaints about the generous US offers to Israel were the source of the delay.

"What is causing a delay in putting together the agreed formula in the US document are Palestinian objections to what Israel has managed to gain through the understandings," he said.

Under the terms of the proposal, Israel would declare a one-off three-month moratorium on new construction in the West Bank excluding annexed Arab east Jerusalem.

In exchange, the United States would pledge not to ask for a further freeze, would deliver to Israel 20 F-35 fighter jets, worth three billion dollars, and would pledge to block any international efforts to force a political settlement on Israel.

Palestinian officials said earlier this week they had not been officially notified of details of the US proposal, although president Mahmud Abbas will on Wednesday hold talks on the issue with a senior US official.