[ 14/11/2010 - 10:33 AM ]
It added in a report on Sunday that the annual building average in settlements had reached 1600 housing units.
The movement urged Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze building in the West Bank.
For his part, Netanyahu held a session for his mini cabinet on Saturday evening to discuss a report on his talks in Washington and means of returning to peace talks with the Palestinians amidst reports of American incentives to freeze settlement and return to talks.
Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman had stated that there would be no return to settlement freeze "not for two months, not for one month".
14/11/2010 The Israeli cabinet debated a fresh 90-day ban on West Bank settlement construction on Sunday as a Peace Now report showed the settlers have been building new homes at a furious pace.
As ministers sat down to hear details of the far-ranging proposals laid out by Washington in exchange for a one-off moratorium, the Palestinians said they had not received any official word of the US offer to Israel.
The package involves a 90-day freeze, which would not cover construction in occupied east Jerusalem but would include all building begun since September 26 when the previous 10-month moratorium expired, a source close to the negotiations said.
It also includes a broad package of security offers, as well as a commitment to block any effort to force a political settlement on Israel.
Shortly before the cabinet sat down to discuss the offer, settlement watchdog Peace Now published a report showing that in the seven weeks since the end of the moratorium, Israeli settlers have started building 1,649 new homes -- more than making up for the 10-month ban.
"It turns out that the settlement freeze was no more than a 10-month delay in the construction and the settlers managed to fill in the gap very fast," Peace Now said.
"The government of Israel must renew the freeze in a way that will stop all settlement activity, including the projects that started in the last few weeks, until there is a final agreement between the Palestinians and Israel regarding the borders and the future of the settlements."
The US offer is the latest in a series of steps aimed at persuading Israel to impose a new freeze in a bid to salvage moribund peace talks with the Palestinians.
The talks, which began two months ago, shuddered to a halt over renewed settlement building following the end of the ban, with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas refusing to return to the table unless Israel committed itself to a new one.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far rejected any new freeze.
Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP the Palestinian Authority had approached US officials overnight for clarification but had not yet received an answer.
"The Palestinian Authority is waiting for an official answer from the US administration about the details and facts about what is going on with this issue," he said.
In recent weeks, the Palestinians have repeatedly threatened to approach the Security Council for recognition of an independent state in the event that peace talks fail.
But Israel has cautioned against any unilateral moves, saying the only way to “peace” is through a negotiated agreement -- a position backed by the United States.
The Palestinians see the settlements as a major threat to the establishment of a viable state, and they view the freezing of settlement activity as a crucial test of Israel's intentions.
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