Jerusalem  - US President Barack Obama's envoy held a long-awaited meeting in Jerusalem Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a bid to finalize an agreement on a temporary halt of Israeli construction in the occupied West Bank.

Washington hopes that such an agreement will allow Obama to host a triple summit with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York later this month - and relaunch peace negotiations.

Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, was also scheduled to meet with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah later Tuesday.

Netanyahu's office said the Israeli premier plans to leave for New York on Wednesday, a day before his scheduled address to the General Assembly. It said in a statement sent to journalists that no meeting with Abbas there to relaunch the peace process had as yet been scheduled, but that the Israeli leader was willing to book an earlier flight "in case such a meeting takes place."

Netanyahu decided last week to shorten his trip to New York so as to avoid sitting in the same hall with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the General Assembly.

Speaking to a parliamentary committee in Jerusalem, he reiterated that he would not accept the US' demand for a complete freeze of construction in Israel's West Bank settlements, and confirmed that he had informed Washington he would continue to build 2,500 housing units whose construction has already begun, as well as of another 450 new ones.

Construction in East Jerusalem would also continue, with Netanyahu repeating that he did not regard Jewish neighbourhoods in the city - built within the municipal boundaries but on occupied West Bank land - as settlements. (dpa)