Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has brushed aside US calls for a halt in the expansion of settlements saying the regime has no intention to do so.

"We cannot accept this vision absolutely, completely freezing these settlements. I think we must keep natural growth," he said on Wednesday.

"People are born and people die in Judea and Samaria, and the settlements cannot be completely frozen," Lieberman said.

He made the remarks at a joint press conference with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the US State Department.

The comments however met with Clinton's disagreement who reiterated the necessity of stopping the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Lieberman also claimed that there was no written or oral agreement between the US and Israel that obliges Tel Aviv to halt the settlement work.

While Washington has been calling for a complete freeze in the expansion of the settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israel insists that it would continue the construction work to meet the demands caused by "natural growth."

SB/SME/RE