Al Qassam website - Zionist media reported on Monday that the US is pressing the Zionist entity to scrap a contentious east Jerusalem building project whose approval has touched off the most serious diplomatic feud with Washington in years.

Top US officials have lined up in recent days to condemn the Zionist plan to build 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, the sector of the holy city that the Palestinians claim for their future capital.

The project caused a storm in Washington because it was announced during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the region last week, badly embarrassing the US and complicating its efforts to restart Zionist -Palestinian peacemaking.

The Palestinians immediately threatened not to join upcoming US-brokered talks meant to jumpstart negotiations after a 14-month breakdown.

US officials have not disclosed what steps they want the Zionist entity to take to ease the crisis, and the Zionist government spokesman Mark Regev refused to comment Monday.

But Zionist newspapers and radio stations said Washington wants the construction project canceled.

They also reported that the US wants the Zionist entity to make a significant confidence-building gesture toward the Palestinians.

Suggestions included releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Zionist jails; turning over additional areas of the West Bank to Palestinian control; removing some of the roadblocks hampering the movement of Palestinians and goods in the West Bank; and easing the blockade on the Gaza Strip, media reported.

The unusually harsh US criticism has undercut Netanyahu's efforts to suggest that the crisis had passed.

Zionist newspapers reported Monday that the Zionist ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, told diplomats in a conference call Saturday night that their country's relations with the US haven't been so tense since 1975.