- The Israeli government was forced yesterday to admit
that it plans to build more homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank
- less than a week after confirming it will withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
-
- Although the scale of the new building programme was
disputed by government spokesmen, they admitted that a number of new homes
would be built and settlements extended.
-
- Any construction is in clear breach of the "road
map" to peace, supported by America and the European Union, which
calls for a freeze on all settlement activity on Palestinian land occupied
by Israel since the 1967 war.
-
- It also shatters any impression that the Gaza withdrawal,
due to start in July, proves that the government of the prime minister
Ariel Sharon accepts the principle of an independent Palestinian state
roughly consistent with the 1967 borders.
-
- It is likely to aid Left-wing critics of Mr Sharon, who
accuse him of using the withdrawal from Gaza as a smokescreen to conceal
a land grab in the West Bank.
-
- The latest revelations came in the Israeli newspaper
Yedioth Ahronoth, which reported it had seen plans for 6,391 new homes
in the West Bank this year.
-
- Such housing development needs the approval of the defence
ministry, as soldiers are needed to protect Jewish homes on occupied Palestinian
land, and the office of the defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, issued a statement
admitting building permits for a "limited number of housing units"
had been granted.
-
- The revelation was condemned by the Palestinians, with
their negotiator with Israel, Saeb Erekat, accusing Israel of breaching
the "road map".
-
- Speaking this week in Brussels, President George W Bush
said that Israel "must freeze settlement activity".
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005
-
- http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.
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