Israel has started building at least 600 homes since the end of a construction freeze, watchdog Peace Now said Thursday, in a move which the Palestinians slammed as "a flagrant act of defiance." "In our estimation, building has started on between 600 and 700 new housing units in less than one month, which is four times the pace of construction since before the freeze," Peace Now's Hagit Ofran told AFP, referring to the moratorium that began at the end of November 2009.
Direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians are facing imminent collapse in a bitter row over settlement building on occupied West Bank land that resumed after the end of the 10-month ban. Israel has refused to reimpose the moratorium, while the Palestinians say they will not hold talk while settlers are building on Palestinian land, prompting a flurry of US diplomatic efforts to resolve the deadlock. And Thursday's revelation, details of which are to be fleshed out in a Peace Now report to be published next week, looked set to put a knife in the back of diplomatic efforts to salvage the talks.