Abbas urges end to Israeli settlements

PALESTINIAN president Mahmoud Abbas has met with US president Barack Obama urging stronger US pressure on Israel to halt settlement building even as the Jewish state rebuffed Washington’s latest appeal.

Obama held talks with Abbas at the White House yesterday, 10 days after hosting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is at odds with the US over Jewish settlements and Palestinian statehood.

Abbas wants a tougher US approach towards Netanyahu, who heads a right-leaning Israeli government including pro-settler parties.