Israel has approved the construction of 200 new homes in a major Jewish settlement in the West Bank, Israeli officials said on Sunday, despite US opposition to expanding enclaves on occupied land.
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz's decision to allow more houses to be built in the Ariel settlement followed news last week that an additional 600 housing units were slated for Maale Adumim, Israel's biggest West Bank settlement, near Jerusalem.
"About six months ago, (Mofaz) approved 200 housing units, and they are inside (Ariel)," one official said.
Government officials said the Housing Ministry had yet to invite contractors to bid on the housing projects in Ariel, which has a population of 18,000, or in Maale Adumim, where 30,000 settlers live.
"At the moment there are enough homes in Ariel so there is no point marketing to developers," a Housing Ministry spokesman said.
Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said Mofaz's approval of construction in Ariel was a "flagrant violation of the road map (peace plan) and all the promises made by the Israeli government to the Americans".
Washington, which has Israel's pledge not to build beyond existing zones in settlements, voiced reservations last week about any construction in Maale Adumim and called on the Israeli government to abide by the US-backed "road map" for peace.
The violence-stalled plan, based on reciprocal steps leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state, says Israel should freeze "all settlement activity, including natural growth of settlements".
Israel's left-wing Peace Now movement accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mofaz of "acting like thieves in the night".
It said the building of new homes in Ariel, 15 km (nine miles) east of the so-called Green Line separating Israel and the West Bank, would harm any future attempts to reach peace with the Palestinians.
Sharon has vowed Israel would keep Ariel and Maale Adumim under any permanent peace agreement with the Palestinians, who seek to build a viable state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
In April, however, US President George W. Bush assured Sharon that Israel could retain some West Bank land under any future peace deal if the prime minister carried out a unilateral plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip next year.