Barack Obama has repeated his call for Israel to stop settlement construction after holding talks with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

Declaring that Washington was a "stalwart ally" of Israel, the US president nonetheless said that "stopping settlements" was part of Israel's responsibility under the 2003 "road map" peace plan.

He also reiterated his commitment to a Palestinian state, saying he was "a strong believer in a two-state solution" to the Middle East conflict.

Obama's comments, made alongside Abbas at the White House on Thursday, came as Israel appeared to rebuff Washington's demand, made a day earlier, that it stop all settlement expansion without exception.

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