Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz have given the green light to the construction of 600 new buildings in the largest of the West Bank settlements, the defence ministry said Monday.
"Mr Sharon and Mr Mofaz have given their go-ahead to the construction of these buildings" in Maale Adumim, a ministry spokesman told AFP.
Maale Adumim, which is situated close to Jerusalem on the road to Jericho, is home to 28,000 Jewish residents.
The new units are expected to house some 2,000 Israelis which would represent a seven percent rise in the settlement's population.
Under the terms of the US-backed roadmap peace plan, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement activity in the occupied territories.
According to the Maariv newspaper, the housing ministry had received instructions not to publish public tenders to avoid upsetting the Americans.
US President George W. Bush said back in April that it was "unrealistic" to expect a complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank as he endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's controversial disengagement plan.
Under the terms of plan, all Israeli settlers will have to leave the Gaza Strip and four small Jewish enclaves in the northern West Bank next year. However the plan also envisages the de-facto annexation of large settlements such as Maale Adumim.
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