Israeli workers are due to start expanding a Jewish settlement Qiryat Arba on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Hebron - on the day that the new peace accord with the Palestinians goes into effect.

Two hundred housing units will be built in a development which Israel television says was approved by the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu.

His spokesman however denied this saying plans to expand the settlement had first been filed nearly two years ago.

The Hebron expansion comes a day after protests over work starting on a new Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem.

In other moves, Israel says it's lifting its closure of Palestinian territories, allowing some eighty-thousand Palestinian workers back into Israel.