Israel to Build Hundreds More Homes in Settlements

JERUSALEM, Sept. 4, 2009 — -- Days before President Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell returns to the region to discuss an Israeli settlement freeze, news has emerged of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intention to approve hundreds more homes in the occupied territories.

Only after that would he be willing to agree to what one Israeli official speaking to ABC News, called a "moratorium" of a few months on further construction.

The move is likely to dismay the Palestinians and the Arab world who have insisted on a complete settlement freeze as a condition to restarting peace talks with Israel.

The senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told ABC News today, "This is a direct and flagrant provocation by the Israeli side. It is likely to undermine all the efforts of the Obama administration to make peace in the region."

Obama and his senior officials have for months been applying unusual diplomatic pressure on the Israelis to halt settlement construction.

If today's plans are incorporated into any agreement, it would imply a significant compromise by the Obama administration on its initial demands.

The administration hopes a settlement freeze would kick start a peace process that would also include the wider Arab world, and lead to a regional agreement.

But the talks with the Israelis have been painfully slow. Netanyahu heads a government many components of which are long time supporters of the settler movement and are dead set against a freeze.

Netanyahu's plan to build more homes may be an attempt to satisfy government partners who have warned him not to announce a halt in construction of any kind.

The Israelis have insisted on the right to what they term "normal life" in the Jewish settlements. This they claim, requires some measure of continued construction.

All settlements in the occupied territories are deemed illegal under international law, and the Road Map peace plan calls for a complete cessation of construction.

The Palestinians see settlements built on the land they want for their state as a major obstacle to peace.