ISRAEL: Israel is to build 600 new homes, for some 2,000 residents, at the largest West Bank settlement, even as it prepares to evacuate 7,500 settlers from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.
Israeli officials confirmed yesterday that Mr Sharon has approved the construction of the new neighbourhood at Ma'aleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem, which is home to around 30,000 residents. Approval for the expansion was granted two months ago, but was not publicised, the daily Ma'ariv reported, because of concern over international criticism.
Some Israeli officials have spoken of an eventual aim to link up Ma'aleh Adumim with Jerusalem's eastern municipal boundary.
Mr Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian Authority cabinet minister and former chief peace negotiator, criticised the project as "total defiance" of the internationally backed "road map" peace framework.
The plan to expand Ma'aleh Adumim underlines that while Mr Sharon has tied his political future to the evacuation of the Gaza Strip, alienating much of his natural right-wing constituency, he is determined to retain areas of the West Bank with the heaviest Jewish settlement, even under a future peace agreement with the Palestinians.
But although Mr Erekat said the new building project ran counter to American policy, President Bush has indicated sympathy with Mr Sharon's ambition to maintain major settlements, declaring recently that demographic changes since Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war, among other factors, mean that Israel should not be expected to return to its pre-1967 borders under a peace treaty.
Israel's Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday he envisaged the revised route for Israel's controversial security barrier cutting into the West Bank to encompass both Ma'aleh Adumim and the Etzion Bloc, a group of settlements to the south of Jerusalem. The revised route has yet to be approved by the government and, if it follows the course indicated by Mr Mofaz, it is not clear that it would withstand the scrutiny of the Israeli Supreme Court. In a landmark ruling a month ago, the court indicated that the barrier should be constructed close to the pre-1967 border.
In addition to the 600 homes at Ma'aleh Adumim, the Israeli authorities indicated last week that 1,200 homes would be offered for sale by the end of the year at settlements elsewhere in the West Bank.
Reuters adds: Palestinian militants shot dead two people in their hospital beds on Monday who had been accused of collaborating with Israel, hours after they were wounded by grenades tossed into their jail cell.
A third alleged spy was killed inside the cell and four others wounded in the grenade attack by a Gaza City prison guard, medical and security sources said.