Israel disclosed on Tuesday it had long-standing plans to build a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank but had set no date for the start of a project likely to harm efforts to revive peacemaking with Palestinians. Housing and Construction Minister Isaac Herzog said settler officials he met earlier in the day in the West Bank had asked him about what he described as a 10-year-old plan to build a town called Gvaot on occupied territory south of Jerusalem.
"I said I will review the idea and of course bear in mind the political ramifications," Herzog, a member of the centre-left Labour Party, told Reuters, referring to US and Palestinian opposition to settlement expansion.
Asked if Israel planned to start building Gvaot, an extension of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, now, Herzog replied: "Of course not."
He also said there was no government plan to move settlers slated for evacuation from the Gaza Strip this summer into the West Bank, but they were free to live wherever they chose.
"I cannot prevent an individual who wants to use his compensation to buy a house in Gush Etzion from doing so," he said. "This would be totally within his rights."
A US official, asked about the matter, said: "I know of no such plan to build in Gush Etzion and will defer comment until the facts are clear."
After initial reports that Israel intended to build Gvaot, the official voiced concern such a move would contravene a US-backed peace "road map" that new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas hopes to revive.
The peace plan calls for a freeze in "settlement activity" and other steps leading to the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.
Palestinian officials, engaged in security co-ordination talks with Israel since President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a cease-fire at a February 8 summit in Egypt, criticised the Gvaot plan.
"Israel is throwing sand in our eyes by continuing with the settlement process (in the West Bank)," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told Reuters before a cabinet meeting.
Gush Etzion, about 20 km (12 miles) south of Jerusalem, has about 15,000 settlers and is among several sprawling enclaves Sharon regards as strategic assets not to be ceded.
Israel has been expanding larger West Bank settlements for years, hitting Palestinian hopes of setting up a viable state.
Sharon aims to remove 8,500 settlers from Gaza under his plan to "disengage" from conflict with Palestinians, while cementing Israel's hold on swathes of the larger West Bank where 230,000 settlers live.
He has faced strong right-wing opposition to abandoning territory some regard as a biblical birthright, though polls show most of the Jewish state's citizens favour a pullout from tiny Gaza.
Israel's parliament began a two-day debate on legislation granting Gaza settlers compensation and the bill was expected to pass by a wide margin on Wednesday.
Senior political sources said that Sharon hoped to win a key cabinet vote on the Gaza plan on Sunday by also presenting for approval a resolution to extend Israel's controversial West Bank barrier to encompass Gush Etzion.
Israel calls the network of fences and walls, one-third of whose planned 730 km (440 mile) length has already been built, a bulwark against suicide bombers who have killed hundreds of Israelis. Palestinians say it is a disguised bid to annex land.
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