Pro-settler groups has stepped up pressure on Israel's premier not to cave in during White House talks to demands that he extend a partial freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank.

JERUSALEM - Pro-settler groups stepped up pressure on Israel's premier not to cave in during on Tuesday's White House talks to demands that he extend a partial freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, landed in Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama, who was expected to push him to extend the 10-month moratorium which ends on September 26.

Right-wing groups, and many in the premier's hawkish Likud party, have vowed to begin building in earnest at that point, and are determined to fight any pressure to extend the moratorium.

Deputy parliament speaker Danny Danon of Likud said he expected Netanyahu to tell Obama to "respect the right of Jews to live in Jerusalem."

Ministers Debate Ousting Anti-Israel MKs

by Hillel Fendel

The ministerial committee for legislation will debate the proposed "Zouabi bill," stipulating that MKs who actively support armed struggle against Israel will be ousted from the Knesset.

The bill is named for freshman Arab MK Hanin Zouabi, a woman who was aboard the Turkish Marmarsi ship together with Hamas-supporting IHH terrorists in its attempt to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Her anti-Israel stance has long been well-known and documented, but her participation in the flotilla and her subsequent attempt to speak in the Knesset while MKs of various factions shouted her down and attempted to remove her have cemented her position as Israel's #1 public enemy.

The bill now under consideration was submitted by Likud MK Danny Danon. It states that an incumbent Knesset Member who takes part in supporting an enemy's armed struggle against the State of Israel must be removed from the Knesset.