Biden will host dinner with Netanyahu to defuse settlement row

AFP - US Vice President Joe Biden will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner on Monday, amid an intense flurry of diplomacy following a rare public row between the allies.
  
Biden will welcome the Israeli leader to his official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, on the eve of Netanyahu's planned meeting with President Barack Obama on Tuesday, the White House said.
  
The US Vice President was in Israel less than two weeks ago when an Israeli announcement on the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem sparked an argument between Washington and the Israeli government.
  
Biden condemned the substance and the timing of the announcement but later said he accepted Netanyahu's expressed regret for the incident.
  
Netanyahu is in Washington for the annual meeting of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and will also meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department on Monday.