There won't be a building freeze in , Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahusaid in an interview with Channel 2 aired Thursday evening, declining to comment on whether a demand to freezeconstruction projects in the capital was ever floated by the .
When asked about his relationship with US President BarackObama, Netanyahu said that there was a wrong perception in both and the that stemmed from the"personalization of politics in both societies."
He said the strained ties with the stemmed from "differences inpolicy," not an issue of trust or the personality of either himself or Obama.
Earlier Thursday, aides to the prime minister said Netanyahudelivered his government's position to Obama over the weekend, ahead of thescheduled arrival later Thursday of the president's special envoy, GeorgeMitchell. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the contact between thetwo leaders was private.Theaides to Netanyahu provided no information on whether he had offered any otherconcessions to the Palestinians in an effort to restart the long-stalled talks.He also did not divulge whether was planning any future gestures to the Palestinians.
Netanyahu did stress, however, that has already made significantgestures toward the Palestinian Authority.
In other comments, Netanyahu said Iran was trying to provoke a war between Israel and Syria.
He said Iran was trying to convince Syria that an Israeli attack is imminent, which he said is a "lie."
Tensionshave been high recently between Israel and Syria. The sides have tradedthreats, and last week Israel accused Syria of smuggling powerfulrockets to the Lebanese terrorists of Hizbullah. Syria denied the charge.
Speakingin an interview Thursday with Israel's Channel 2 TV, Netanyahu repeatedthe charge that Syria and Iran were arming Hizbullah.