QUDS, DEC. 26, SPA -- Israel has approved the building of a new settlement in the northern West Bank to house the former Gaza settlers, officials said Tuesday, breaking a promise to the U.S. to halt settlement construction, according to Reuters. Construction of Maskiot began months ago. But the project only received final approval from the Defense Ministry last week, said Dubi Tal, head of the Jordan Valley regional council. The new settlement will house 23 families evacuated from the Gaza Strip last year and will eventually house 100 families, Tal said. «I estimate that within two or three weeks the foundations for temporary housing will begin,» he said. Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the construction and urged the government to revoke its authorization, saying it violated the new spirit of cooperation inaugurated by a meeting Saturday between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. «What message are they trying to send?» Erekat said. Olmert has signaled in recent weeks that he is ready to make broad territorial concessions to the Palestinians under a final peace settlement. But he has also said he wants Israel to retain large settlement blocs. The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as part of a future independent state.
