AL QUDS, Aug 2: Israel has approved 600 new housing units for the West Bank's biggest Jewish settlement despite an understanding with Washington not to expand enclaves on occupied land, political sources said on Monday.
But no building tenders have been published since the decision two months ago and security sources said the United States, Israel's main ally and key mediator in its conflict with Palestinians, would be consulted before construction began.
The plan would add homes to Maale Adumim, a sprawling, suburban-style settlement with 30,000 people. Located a few km (miles) east of al Quds, it straddles the mid-section of territory that Palestinians seek for a viable independent state.
Political sources conceded the plan could breach an understanding with the United States not to erect more homes beyond existing built-up zones in West Bank settlements.
Palestinian officials condemned the move as a violation of a US-backed "road map" peace plan which mandates a freeze on settlement expansion to help make way for Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"This is in total defiance of the road map ... and total defiance of (US) President (George W.) Bush's vision. Settlements and peace do not go together," Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erekat said.
"We will discuss this new neighbourhood with the Americans," said an Israeli security official of the decision, acknowledged by a Defence Ministry spokesman without further comment. The year-old "road map", which also requires a halt to Palestinian militant attacks on Israelis, has been stymied by persistent violence on both sides.
ENDORSEMENT: In April, Bush assured Sharon that Israel could retain some West Bank land under any future peace deal with Palestinians if the Israeli premier carries out his unilateral plan to withdraw from Gaza next year.
Sharon's blueprint to "disengage" from a bloody stalemate with Palestinians would evacuate all 8,000 Jews from Gaza, along with four of 120 settlements in the West Bank. But "disengagement" also entails keeping some West Bank settlement blocs, including Maale Adumim, with the bulk of the 240,000 Jews on land Israel took in the 1967 Middle East war.
Palestinians, in revolt for almost four years, see the right-wing Sharon's "disengagement" as a ruse to dismember territory that would be heart of the state they seek. Political sources said the 600 new homes would extend Maale Adumim eastwards, which could rupture direct trade and transport routes between the northern and southern West Bank.
A US diplomatic official pointed to the road map's settlement freeze clause and declined further comment, saying this could come from the State Department soon. The Bush administration has already expressed dismay at the Israeli government's failure to tear down dozens of unauthorised settlement outposts erected during Sharon's tenure since 2001.
Israeli officials say legal actions filed by settlers have bogged down attempts to remove outposts. -Reuters
