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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: January 15, 2007 |
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The Israeli government on Monday published plans to build 44 homes in Israel's largest Judea and Samaria (West Bank) settlement, violating a pledge to the United States as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in the region on a peace-seeking mission.
The Housing Ministry published ads in Israeli newspapers asking developers to bid on the construction project in Maaleh Adumim, a community of more than 30,000 people outside Jerusalem.
Freezing settlement construction in Judea and Samaria is a key element of the long-stalled "road map" plan for Mideast peace, which both Israel and Rice championed vigorously in public statements during her three-day visit that ended Monday.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, who was traveling with Rice, said he wasn't aware of the bid. But he added: "Our policy hasn't changed."
In a published interview, Rice expressed general U.S. displeasure with settlement expansion.
"We are very committed to the road map and to the obligations there, and I talk all the time to the Israelis about their activity that is prohibited by the road map," Rice told the Palestinian daily Al-Quds.
"The most important commitment that the President (George W. Bush) has made is that the United States does not accept that unilateral steps can prejudge the outcome of final settlement," Rice added.
At the end of her visit to the area, U.S. officials said Rice would soon attend a three-way summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to prod along peace efforts.
The planned settlement expansion did little to build trust between Israel and the Palestinians.
Palestinians, who are to gain independence under the peace plan, vehemently oppose any Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, claiming all of the territory as part of their future state.
"Building 44 new houses in the Maaleh Adumim settlement is one more Israeli violation of signed agreements with the Palestinians," said Khalil Tofakji, a former Palestinian negotiator, referring to accords signed over the years in Oslo and Cairo.
Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said the Israeli goverment was "committed to the continuing growth, natural growth, of the settlements that are in the perimeter around Jerusalem."
Kobi Bleich, the Housing Ministry spokesman, said the timing of the bid's publication was motivated by professional considerations, and had no connection to the visit of foreign dignitaries.
"As soon as the Housing Ministry gets legal authorization to issue a bid, it does," Bleich said.
While the U.S. officially remains opposed to all settlement construction, President George W. Bush has signaled his support for allowing Israel to keep major settlement blocs, including Maaleh Adumim, under a final peace settlement. Most of the 250,000 Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria live in such blocs.
Under the road map, all Israeli construction was to have halted in Judea and Samaria, including new construction to account for the natural growth of existing populations. But Israel has continued building in Maaleh Adumim and other settlements since the road map was presented in June 2003.
The construction includes work on a 33-mile loop of Israel's controversial separation barrier around Maaleh Adumim that would virtually cut Judea and Samaria in half and, the Palestinians fear, prevent them from creating a viable state. Israel says the barrier is intended to keep Palestinian militants from attacking Israel, but because it dips into Judea and Samaria at various points, the Palestinians call it a land grab.
Despite the U.S.'s repeated criticism of settlement construction, it has done little to halt construction.
Settlement expansion was one of the reasons the road map foundered soon after it was presented. The plan also calls on the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups, a step they have failed to take. |
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