White House: Obama did not send letter to Netanyahu

        The White House denied on Thursday that U.S. President Barack Obama sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposing a set of U.S. guarantees to Israel in exchange for Israel extending a freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank for another two months. "No letter was sent to the Prime Minister. We are not going to comment on sensitive diplomatic matters,” said Benjamin Chang, the deputy spokesman for the White House National Security Council, Haaretz reported. It is not clear, however, whether Obama could have made the offer via means other than a letter. Earlier on Thursday, Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said that U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell denied that Obama made such an offer to Netanyahu. (20.49)