Defense Minister Ehud Barak in his interview with the Washington television said that the Israeli government does not intend to build new settlements, Al-Arabiyya quoted.
Barak added that Israel was able to negotiate with the United States with respect to natural increase that is an integral part of Israel.
The words of an Israeli minister followed the requirements of the U.S. President Barack Obama to stop building settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories during his appeal to the Islamic world from the rostrum at Cairo University on Thursday.
Israeli Defense Minister Barak, who is on an official visit to Washington to meet with his American counterpart discussed issues of security in the region, but details are not reported, Al-Arabiyya.
On Friday, Israeli security forces also announced the cessation of the construction in the settlement of Beth Arey, in the eastern West Bank, the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post.