Israel plans new homes in West Bank settlement

Jerusalem, June 12: Israel plans to build 54 new homes in the occupied West Bank despite an obligation under a US-backed peace ''road map'' to halt such construction on land Palestinians seek for a state.

The Israel Lands Administration, a government agency, issued a tender inviting bids on 54 plots for single-family homes in the Jewish settlement of Elkana, near Ariel, a major settlement bloc. The tender was published by Israeli media today.

The Palestinians have failed to meet their own obligation under the road map to dismantle militant groups.

The Elkana tender was the first to be issued since the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took office on May 4.

''We fear this is only the first of further tenders to build up settlements,'' a spokesman with Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said.

Olmert has pledged to set Israel's final borders through a unilateral pullback from parts of the West Bank if peacemaking with the Palestinians remains frozen. His plan involves strengthening major settlement blocs, including Ariel, which lies in the heart of the West Bank.

After talks with Olmert in Washington last month, US President George W. Bush said the prime minister had presented ''bold ideas'' on reshaping the West Bank but added a negotiated deal with the Palestinians was preferable to unilateral moves.

Palestinians have condemned Olmert's proposal as denying them the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel quit last year after 38 years of occupation.

Prospects for peace talks had dimmed further after the Islamic militant group Hamas took over the Palestinian government after winning elections in January. It is sworn to Israel's destruction.

Olmert will meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London and French President Jacques Chirac in Paris this week to seek support for his West Bank redeployment plan.

Israel Lands Administration data showed 33 housing plots were marketed in the West Bank from January to May. That compared with 1,180 plots in 2005 and 1,075 in 2004. The World Court has branded all Jewish settlements on occupied land as illegal. Israel disputes this.

REUTERS