TEL AVIV, August 30, 2010 (WAFA)- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud ministers on Sunday that he had not made any promises to U.S. President Barack Obama or any other American government official regarding an extension of the settlement construction freeze in the West Bank, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

'We made no proposals to the Americans on extending the freeze,' Netanyahu said. 'We said that the future of the communities will be discussed as one of the elements of a final-status settlement, along with the other issues. We promised nothing on this issue to the Americans.'

Netanyahu sharply criticized the Palestinian demand for extending Israel's 10-month construction freeze, which expires September 26.

'They are building an entire city with our encouragement and then they are fighting with us over every house in [West Bank],' said Netanyahu. 'The hiatus of construction prior to the cabinet resolution [approving the freeze] lasted 10 months, during which we called them for talks. Now, three weeks before the end of that time, they come to the talks and say that we must continue the building freeze. This raises questions about the seriousness of the Palestinians to enter talks in good faith. They are building an entire city and they fight with us over every home.'

Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein also referred to Rawabi, the first planned Palestinian city, which is being built near Ramallah and is meant to house 30,000 people. He said that while the Palestinians were building that city with Israeli support, Israel was being told to freeze all construction.

Although the Likud meeting lasted no more than 30 minutes, Netanyahu was hit with a barrage of questions, all of which had to do with the future of the settlement freeze and the Washington summit scheduled to begin Wednesday.