A REPORT by Israel radio that 500 Palestinian homes built without permits in the West Bank would be bulldozed and that Palestinians would not be allowed to build near bypass roads, Israeli settlements or army bases has been condemned by the secretary general of the Palestine Authority, Mr Ahmad Abdel Rahman. He characterised such a policy as "ethnic cleansing" which would be resisted.
Most of the homes listed for demolition are located in the populous area of Ramallah, the seat of West Bank Palestinian self government, and were built illegally because Israel refused to grant Palestinians building permits. So far in 1997, 118 Palestinian homes have been demolished by Israel.
The demolition threat followed the failure of a nine day mission to the area by the US envoy, Mr Dennis Ross, who was presented by the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, Dr Saeb Erekat, with a list of 1,300 Palestinian homes scheduled for destruction.
The fact that Mr Ross, who left the region for Washington on Friday, did not intervene to prevent new demolition orders has exacerbated existing tensions between the US and the Palestine Authority.
According to the Palestinians, Mr Ross brought no new proposals to bridge the wide gap between the two sides and instead simply acted as a telephone, carrying messages from one to the other. A tripartite meeting at the US embassy in Tel Aviv between Palestinian, US and Israeli intelligence operatives did not restart security cooperation and coordination, while an encounter, engineered by Mr Ross, between the Israeli chief of staff, Gen Yitzak Mordechai, and the Planning Minister, Dr Nabil Shaath, and Dr Erekat, widened rather than bridged the gap between the two sides.
The most divisive issue remains Israel's continued construction of settlements, particularly the new Jerusalem area project at Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa), where last week bulldozers wrecked the fifth century Byzantine monastery, mosaics and church at Bir Qadismu where, according to tradition, the Virgin Mary rested on her way to Bethlehem.
The spokesman for the Palestine Authority, Mr Marwan Kanafani, warned: "Nothing will move if settlements do not stop." Dr Erekat insisted: "The peace process has lost all credibility." So too has Mr Ross: a Palestinian negotiator told The Irish Times, that Mr Ross has for many months, been seen by the Palestinians as "totally identified with Israeli positions".
The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, refused to meet Mr Ross on May 15th and instead sent a letter, via his representative in Washington, to President Clinton, asking him to upgrade the level of his envoy, to replace Mr Ross and to take personal charge of his country's effort.
Although Mr Arafat did under pressure meet Mr Ross on Friday, this encounter did little to reestablish the envoy's credentials. Dr Ghassan Khatib, a leading West Bank commentator, said the present US approach was to "let [the parties] stew" in the vain hope that eventually "this will bring about some movement", but instead of doing so it had the "practical effect of rescuing the Israeli Prime Minister . . . rather than the peace process".
This US attitude contrasted with the position adopted by President Ezer Weizman of Israel, who told the daily Yedioth Ahronoth that he had "cut all contact" with the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, because of the latter's attitude to the crisis with the Palestinians.
