WASHINGTON — Two separate meetings between President Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, failed to produce so much as an official photograph as a chill settled over US-Israeli relations and secrecy shrouded any efforts to repair them. The Israeli Prime Minister was due to fly home from Washington after three days marked by Israeli defiance on the issue of settlements and an extraordinary silence maintained by both sides after his three-and-a-half-hour visit to the White House. The meeting was overshadowed by Israeli approval for 20 homes built for Jews in Arab east Jerusalem - a move denounced by one senior US official as ‘exactly what we expect Prime Minister Netanyahu to get control of. White House staff denied Mr Netanyahu the usual photo opportunities afforded to a visiting leader, issued only the vaguest summary of their talks - let alone a joint statement - and reversed a decision to release an official photo of their meetings. It was speculated that the talks may have moved beyond the quarrel over Israeli construction in east Jerusalem to final status issues such as the borders of a Palestinian state, as well as Iran and its nuclear programme. […]