Israel announced today plans to build up to 750 new homes in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank in a move the Palestinians denounced as another blow to US-brokered peace talks.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved new building in Givat Ze'ev, which, unlike other sites where developments have been announced lately, lies just outside the city boundaries Israel has drawn for Jerusalem. Mr Olmert has said any building beyond the municipal limits require his personal authorisation.
The peace talks, launched in November with the goal of reaching a statehood agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office next January, have been stalled by disputes over Jewish settlement building and a deadly Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The new building was announced three days after a Palestinian gunman killed eight students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem that was associated with the settler movement.
Israel Radio said the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, a key partner in Mr Olmert's coalition, had threatened to bolt the government unless the construction was approved.
Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said the construction plan dates back nearly a decade: "This is not a new decision. This decision predates this government," Mr Regev said.
But he added: "We have approved it. It is consistent with our policy of building within the large settlement blocs, which will remain in Israel in any final-status agreement."
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the decision.
"This will undermine the talks," he said of the announcement, four days before a US general was to convene the first meeting of a special committee to assess whether Israel and the Palestinians are meeting their commitments under the long-stalled peace "road map".
The road map calls on Israel to halt all settlement activity and on the Palestinians to rein in militants.
Eran Sidis, a spokesman for Israeli Housing Minister Zeev Boim, said the decision was taken after consultations with Mr Olmert, who had barred ministries from going ahead with new Israeli construction in the West Bank without his approval.
Mr Sidis said a plan to build 750 housing units in Givat Ze'ev, some 8 km (5 miles) north of central Jerusalem, was approved in 1999 but suspended two years later after the start of a Palestinian uprising led to a shortage of construction workers.