Israel announced on Sunday plans to build up to 750 new homes in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank in a move the Palestinians denounced as another blow to US-brokered peace talks.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved new building in Givat Ze'ev, which, unlike other sites where developments have been announced lately, lies just outside the city boundaries Israel has drawn for Jerusalem. Olmert has said any building beyond the municipal limits require his personal authorisation.
The peace talks, launched in November with the goal of reaching a statehood agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office next January, have been stalled by disputes over Jewish settlement building and a deadly Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The new building was announced three days after a Palestinian gunman killed eight students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem that was associated with the settler movement.
Israel Radio said the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, a key partner in Olmert's coalition, had threatened to bolt the government unless the construction was approved. Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said the construction plan dates back nearly a decade: "This is not a new decision. This decision predates this government," Regev said.
But he added: "We have approved it. It is consistent with our policy of building within the large settlement blocs, which will remain in Israel in any final-status agreement."
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the decision. "This will undermine the talks," he said of the announcement, four days before a US general was to convene the first meeting of a special committee to assess whether Israel and the Palestinians are meeting their commitments under the long-stalled peace "road map". The road map calls on Israel to halt all settlement activity and on the Palestinians to rein in militants.
EXISTING PLAN:
Eran Sidis, a spokesman for Israeli Housing Minister Zeev Boim, said the decision was taken after consultations with Olmert, who had barred ministries from going ahead with new Israeli construction in the West Bank without his approval.
Sidis said a plan to build 750 housing units in Givat Ze'ev, some 8 km (5 miles) north of central Jerusalem, was approved in 1999 but suspended two years later after the start of a Palestinian uprising led to a shortage of construction workers. The current plan calls for building 200 units initially and another 550 in the future, Sidis said.
Israel has said it intends to keep Givat Ze'ev, home to about 10,000 Israelis, in any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. It also wants to retain several other major settlement enclaves in the West Bank.
Olmert's restrictions on building in West Bank settlements did not apply to areas Israel defines as part of Jerusalem, whose municipal boundaries it widened after capturing Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem has not been recognised internationally.
The issue of settlement building is particularly sensitive to both sides.
Olmert has come under heavy fire from settler leaders for freezing construction in the West Bank outside the main settlement blocs.
Palestinians suspended peace talks with Israel in December after it announced plans to build hundreds of homes on occupied land at Har Homa, near Jerusalem. Palestinians refer to the site as Jabal Abu Ghneim.
The negotiations were again suspended, by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, last week after an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip killed more than 120 Palestinians, about half of whom were identified as civilians.
Israel said the aim of the five-day assault that ended last Monday was to curb rocket fire from the territory. Abbas agreed to resume the talks following a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The negotiations were expected to get under way later this week.
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