"I think we've done enough. Let's get on with the talks," he said, when asked in an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations whether he would extend the limited freeze he put in place to coax the Palestinians into peace negotiations.

At the forum, Netanyahu repeated a call to the Palestinians to move from indirect talks that began in May under US mediation to face-to-face negotiations on statehood.

But he gave no details of the "concrete steps" he promised, during White House talks on July 6, to take within weeks to encourage Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to upgrade the peace process.

The future of settlements, he said, would be addressed in the so-called final status talks with the Palestinians. Netanyahu said in a US television interview on July 7 that Israel intended to deal with that issue "right away" once direct negotiations got under way.