ISRAEL:US SECRETARY of state Condoleezza Rice yesterday urged Israel not to undermine peace efforts with the Palestinians after a report found it had almost doubled its settlement building in the West Bank this year.
Ms Rice, who is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories in a bid to spur progress in the faltering peace talks, said: "I think it's no secret, and I have said it to my Israeli counterparts, that I don't think that settlement activity is helpful."
Peace Now, a group that tracks settlement activity, yesterday cited figures from the central bureau of statistics as showing that Israel's housing ministry began work on 433 new housing units between January and May this year, compared with 240 units in the same period in 2007. The group also reported that the number of tenders published for future construction of settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem soared in the period.
Israel's settlement expansion, illegal under international law, has stoked tensions with the Palestinians and has hampered US-led efforts to reach a peace deal by the end of this year.
The uncertainty surrounding Israel's political leadership has also been an obstacle to talks. Ehud Olmert, prime minister, who is the subject of a corruption investigation, announced last month that he plans to step down in mid-September.
Ms Rice said yesterday that the positions of the two sides in the secret talks had shifted "somewhat closer together". But Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, speaking shortly after Dr Rice had made her comments, said a deal was unlikely in the next five months.
Ms Rice has repeatedly pressed Israel to halt construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Israel occupied during the 1967 war and which the Palestinians see as part of their future state. Mr Olmert, however, has said Israel will continue building in Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem and in settlement blocs that it plans to keep under any peace agreement.
Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, insisted that Israel's settlement activity should not influence the peace process. She said: "The role of the leaders is to try to find a way to live in peace in the future and not to let any kind of noises that relate to the situation on the ground these days to enter the negotiation room." Ms Livni, seen as a favourite to succeed Mr Olmert as prime minister, added that settlement construction had been "reduced in the most dramatic way", especially on the eastern side of the barrier Israel is building in and along the West Bank. - (Financial Times service)