Israeli settlement violates 'road map,' US says

Washington, Dec 28: Israel's plan to settle 30 Jewish families on a former army base in the occupied West Bank would violate terms of a US-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, the United States said today.

''The establishment of a new settlement or the expansion of an existing settlement would violate Israel's obligations under the road map,'' Gonzo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, told reporters in Washington.

''The US calls on Israel to meet its road map obligations and avoid taking steps that could be viewed as predetermining the outcome of final-status negotiations,'' he said. Washington was seeking an explanation from Israel, Gallegos added.

A US-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan known as the ''road map'' calls for a halt to building Jewish settlements in the West Bank, land occupied by Israel in the 1967 West Asia war where Palestinians envision a future independent state.

The families planning to move to the former army base in Maskiot lived in two of the 21 Jewish settlements Israel dismantled in the Gaza Strip in 2005 under a ''disengagement plan'' promoted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Some 8,500 settlers were pulled out of the Gaza Strip, along with Israeli troops, after 38 years of occupation.

Earlier today, the European Union expressed deep concern about the Maskiot settlement plan.

Some 260,000 settlers live in the West Bank, among 2.5 million Palestinians. The World Court has branded Israeli settlements on land captured in the 1967 West Asia war as illegal. Israel disputes this.

Reuters