Settler homes snub to Palestinians

Israeli leaders want to resume security co-operation

Israel has approved plans for 710 new homes in Jewish settlements around Jerusalem and the West Bank, sparking fury among Palestinians.

Palestinian officials warned that Israeli approval for the new housing could destroy the current mission of the US envoy to the region, William Burns.

There will be another time to address the political problems. Now the relevant issue is to bring about a cessation of hostilities and violence

Raanan Gissin, Israeli Government spokesman

The announcement came as violence flared in the West Bank, leaving at least three people dead.

Meanwhile, a splinter group of the Palestinian Fatah movement, the Fatah Hawks, says it has taken hostage three western journalists, two Americans and one British, because of what it said was British and American support for Israel.

In another development, Israeli radio has reported that two Palestinians were killed in a suicide attack against an Israeli army post in the southern Gaza Strip.

'Need for housing'

Israeli officials said the decision to build new homes in Jewish settlements had first been made three months ago under a decision by the old government.

Israeli Housing Minister Nathan Sharansky said 493 of the new settler homes would be at Maale Adumim, the largest Jewish settlement that lies just north of Jerusalem, and 217 housing units in Alfei Menashe in the northern West Bank.

Click here to see graphs showing the growth of settlements

"It is necessary to respond to the urgent need for housing in these settlements, whose development [enjoys] a large consensus among the Israeli population," he said.

But a BBC correspondent in Jerusalem says it is still a slap in the face for the Palestinians, who are demanding a complete freeze on all settlement activity as their prize for ending the uprising against Israeli occupation.

It also defies the Mitchell Commission report into the causes of the current violence which last week called for a freezing of Jewish settlements on Palestinian territories.

Renewed violence

In the West Bank, an Israeli woman was shot dead from a passing car on Tuesday.

It was the day's second drive-by shooting in the West Bank, following the killing of an Israeli motorist earlier.

Elsewhere, a Palestinian was killed by Israeli security forces near an Israeli army checkpoint in the West Bank city of Jericho.

A statement issued by the Fatah Hawks, the group that abducted the three Western journalists, warned that other British and American citizens in Palestinian areas may in the future be kidnapped or killed.

US-mediated talks

The violence came hours before Israeli and Palestinian officials are due to hold US-mediated talks in a new attempt to end eight months of violence.

The meeting was organised after US envoy William Burns met both the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The Palestinians say that the issue of settlements should be included in the talks, but Israeli officials have ruled it out, insisting that a ceasefire is agreed first.

Israeli Government spokesman Raanan Gissin told the BBC: "There will be another time to address the political problems. Now the relevant issue is to bring about a cessation of hostilities and violence."

Since fighting erupted last September, 572 people have been killed, comprising 468 Palestinians, 88 Israelis, 13 Arab Israelis, two Romanians and a German.

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