Israeli diplomats claim that the Obama White House wants to exert pressure on the Netanyahu government to form a coalition with former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

Livni, who chairs the center-left Kadima party, formed the opposition after far-right Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was tasked with forming a government in Israel.

Amid a deepening rift between Washington and Tel Aviv, Israeli diplomats have accused US President Barack Obama of pressuring Prime Minister Netanyahu to bring in the Kadima to moderate his hawkish cabinet, Israeli paper Ma'ariv reported.

"They are pressuring Livni to retreat from her opposition to joining Netanyahu's government, so she can enter it and prevent the worsening of relations with the US," Ma'ariv quoted a diplomatic official as saying.

The Israeli officials, who were not named by the paper, said that the Americans should respect the Israel's idea of expansion of the Jewish settlements in the Palestinian lands.

Livni formed a shadow government last month after refusing to join the largely right-wing cabinet of Netanyahu's Likud party.

Likud MK -- Member of Knesset (the Israeli parliament) -- Danny Danon said that the Obama administration should respect the result of the Netanyahu's election in February.

"The American administration thinks that there were only elections in the US," Danon said. "Any attempt to intervene in Israeli politics only strengthens Netanyahu, who has the support of the public, especially after this interference."

Defying the US, Netanyahu has halted Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over setting up an independent Palestinian state and has called previous US-backed agreements into question.

In April, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sparked controversy by saying that Tel Aviv was not bound by the 2007 US-backed Annapolis deal, under which Israel agreed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

MSH/MMN