US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Washington on Wednesday, with the two sides still remaining different on issues of Jewish settlement.

Speaking to reporters after talks with Lieberman, Clinton reiterated that "American commitment to Israel's security is and will remain a cornerstone of our foreign policy, and that the United States continues to want Israel to halt settlement activity in the West Bank."

"As President Obama, Senator (George) Mitchell and I have said, we want to see a stop to the settlements," Clinton said.

Lieberman, standing next to Clinton, said that Israel is ready to have "immediate direct talks with the Palestinians," and that it did not have "any intention to change the demographic balance" of the West Bank.

However, the Israeli top diplomat insisted that Israel has to keep the "natural growth" of Jewish settlement. "We think that in every place around the world babies are born, people get married, some pass away and we cannot accept this vision about absolutely, completely freezing settlements."

The Jewish settlement issue has been one of major obstacles to the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and to their eventual peace deal.

It was reported that nearly 300,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, along with 180,000 Israelis in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. The Palestinians demand the return of both areas, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as parts of the future Palestinian state.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2009)