OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Agencies)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has barred new construction work, building planning and occupancy tenders at West Bank settlements without his approval, a move meant to bolster U.S.-backed peace talks, according to documents.
Olmert has been under U.S. pressure to help jumpstart peace talks, soured by disputes over Jewish settlement construction, ahead of a visit by President George W. Bush early next month.
In a Dec. 30 letter to the ministers of defense, housing and agriculture, Olmert wrote that "construction, new building, expansion, preparation of plans, publication of residency tenders, confiscation of land stemming from other settlement activities in the (West Bank) area will not go forward and will not be implemented without requesting and receiving in advance approval by the defense minister and the prime minister."
The letter does not rule out the prime minister approving construction within West Bank settlements.
His spokesman, Mark Regev, said Olmert committed at talks last week with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to take "any actions that could prejudice a final status agreement".
The talks, launched at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, bogged down since Israel announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in an area near Jerusalem known to Israelis as Har Homa and to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghuneim.
Palestinians see the building of Har Homa as the last rampart in a wall of settlements encircling Arab East Jerusalem, cutting it off from the rest of the occupied West Bank. They say it is a strategic move by Israel to pre-empt any possibility of East Jerusalem becoming the Palestinian capital.
Plans for new Israeli settlements this month have drawn rare criticism from the United States, as well as the European Union, saying it could undermine Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Olmert's office said his order applies to all settlements in the West Bank, including Maale Adumim, which Israel hopes to keep as part of any final peace deal.
But officials said Olmert made clear to the Palestinians that building in Har Homa that has already been authorized can go forward. Israel considers Har Homa to be part of Jerusalem, as opposed to the West Bank.
In addition to Har Homa, Israel's Housing Ministry has announced plans for new building within Maale Adumim. |
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Killing pilgrim In another development, a middle-aged Palestinian woman was shot and killed on the Gaza-Israel border as she returned home after performing hajj in Saudi Arabia, Palestinian officials reported.
The woman was crossing through the Erez passenger terminal from Israel into Gaza on Sunday night when Israeli soldiers in a nearby watchtower opened fire, killing her and wounding four others, witnesses said.
Palestinian health officials confirmed that a woman was killed at Erez, and identified her as Khaldiyeh Hamdan, 45.
The woman was one of 700 pilgrims returning to Gaza through Israel after making the traditional Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, earlier this month. |
