Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Wednesday to make no concessions to the Palestinians after a scathing attack by a White House official of his refusal to reach a compromise for peace.

An article published online Tuesday by The Atlantic magazine quoted an unnamed official of US President Barack Obama's administration calling Netanyahu a "chickenshit" and attacking him over Israeli policy on settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories.

"I won't make concessions that will endanger our country," Netanyahu told parliament on Wednesday.

"Our ultimate interests, first and foremost security and the unity of Jerusalem, are not the top priority for those anonymous sources who attack us and me personally.

"The attack on me came only because I protect the State of Israel," he said.

The official quoted as calling Netanyahu a "chickenshit" lashed out in the Atlantic article.

"He won't do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states. The only thing he's interested in is protecting himself from political defeat... He's got no guts," the official said, adding there was "red-hot anger" over Israel's settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The US and international community have slammed Israel for recent plans to build thousands of new Jewish settler homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem -- moves that are seen as making peace and the creation of a Palestinian state almost impossible.

The White House warned in early October that continued settlement plans would "distance Israel from even its closest allies."