U.S. studying Israeli West Bank home plan

[Judi Lynn]

Tuesday, August 17, 2004 · Last updated 12:58 p.m. PT

U.S. studying Israeli West Bank home plan

By HARRY DUNPHY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER



A Bedouin shepherd walks with his sheep past the hilltop Israeli settlement of Maaleh Adumim, the West Bank's largest settlement, about five kilometers outside Jerusalem, Tuesday, Aug 17, 2004. The Israeli Government Tuesday cleared the way for new building at settlements including in Maaleh Adumim by opening the bidding for construction of 1,000 new homes in the West Bank. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Height (pixels)
WASHINGTON -- The United States withheld judgment Tuesday on whether Israel's plans to build 1,000 new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank violate the U.S-led Middle East peace plan.

U.S. officials are studying the details of bids, or tenders, issued by the Israeli government for construction of the homes, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. "Our concern is to determine whether these tenders are consistent with Israel's commitments" to freeze settlements as part of the peace plan known as the road map, Ereli said.

In the past State Department officials have repeatedly pressed the Israelis to live up to statements in the road map.

However, Ereli declined to say whether the housing plans run afoul of the road map provision that says Israel "freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)."
(snip/...)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=US%20Mideast

[Gin]

1. they will study it until all of Palestine is walled off and rebuilt into

Jewish settlements.