Israel reported that work began on about 1,850 new settler
homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites) in 2003, a trend that
could complicate Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s bid for U.S.
approval for his unilateral "disengagement" plan.
Hassan Abu Libdeh, spokesman for Palestinian Prime Minister
Ahmed Qurie, said settlement expansion showed Israel's lack of
commitment to the U.S.-backed "road map" and what he described
as "U.S. bias (in favor of) this Israeli government."
The latest evidence of continued settlement expansion
followed signs from Washington Monday, after a round of
U.S.-Israeli talks, that the White House was moving toward
agreeing to Sharon's controversial plan.
The right-wing prime minister's initiative calls for
uprooting settlements in Gaza plus removing several more in the
West Bank and then drawing a "security line" that would leave
Palestinians with less land than they seek for a state.
The United States late last year signaled its displeasure
with Israeli settlement building as well as the route of its
West Bank barrier by deducting nearly $290 million from a $9
billion package of loan guarantees to the Jewish state.
Over the past year, Israel has kept up building of settler
homes and apartments in defiance of the road map, now stalled
by violence, that calls for a freeze in such construction.
Israel says it has the right to build in settlements to
accommodate "natural growth." Settler home-building in 2003 far
outstripped Israel's overall rate, which fell eight percent.
"The settlements...are dynamic communities with a much
larger growth in population than elsewhere," said Tourism
Minister Benny Elon, member of a far-right coalition partner.
"Therefore it is natural construction will also grow and grow."
Settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, lands occupied
by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, stand at the heart of
the conflict.
More than 220,000 Israelis live in some 150 settlements
among three million Palestinians. Most of the international
community considers the enclaves illegal. Israel disputes this.
ARAFAT ADVISER GUNNED DOWN
Earlier Tuesday, unidentified gunman shot dead, Khalil
al-Zebin, 59, a veteran Palestinian journalist and well-known
adviser to President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), outside his office in Gaza.
He was the most prominent victim yet of a breakdown of law
and order in Palestinian areas amid the rise of armed criminal
gangs, some linked to militant groups and security forces. The
trend has been accentuated by frequent Israeli army raids.
Hours after Zebin's killing, Arafat approved a package of
reforms for his security apparatus -- including a halt to
paying policemen's salaries in cash, as donor countries have
demanded, and steps toward revamping a welter of security
services.
"We have lost a hero among the Palestinian people...in a
cheap assassination," Arafat told reporters at his West Bank
headquarters. "We cannot stand silent before what happened."
Qurie vowed "firm security measures" in response to Zebin's
killing and a recent wave of crimes that has raised fears of
chaos in Palestinian areas.
