Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is negotiating a deal with Washington under which Israeli building in existing Jewish settlements could go forward in certain cases, Israeli and Western officials said on Tuesday.

In talks with US President Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy, Netanyahu has asserted that his government does not have the legal authority to stop building in cases in which tenders for new structures have already been awarded or when homes under construction have already been purchased. “I’m confident that we will be able to reach an agreement in the near future that will enable us to put the settlement issue aside and to move forward to what I regard as far more substantive issues in the peace process,” Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to US, said. Netanyahu this week accepted the internationally backed goal of Palestinian statehood, but set a series of pre-conditions that were rejected by the Palestinians.