Israel Denies It's Planning Major Settlement Project

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-settle6aug06,1,556882.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Israel Denies It's Planning Major Settlement Project
A newspaper says the government intends to add thousands of homes to Maale Adumim, linking the West Bank suburb to Jerusalem.

By Ken Ellingwood, Times Staff Writer


JERUSALEM — Israeli officials disputed an Israeli news report Thursday that the government planned to build thousands of homes at the edge of a major West Bank settlement outside Jerusalem — an expansion that would bridge two cities but run afoul of a U.S.-backed peace plan.

A spokesman for Israel's Housing Ministry said the plan was at least 10 years old and that the government would not be building in the immediate future.

The Maariv newspaper reported that the government had put the land — 3,750 acres between Jerusalem and the settlement of Maale Adumim — under state ownership several months ago, making it eligible for construction.

The newspaper said the ministry, which oversees settlement development, had quietly begun preparing the site by building the first roads and planning sewers and sidewalks.

The U.S. government opposes new settlement construction. Under the stalled peace plan, Israel is to freeze settlement activity and tear down all settlement offshoots, known as outposts, built since March 2001.<snip>