Israel Expands Settlements in Blow to Peace Process

Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, embraced the rightwing settler movement yesterday by saying he shared their pain in the wake of last week's killings at a Jewish religious school and by approving 530 new settler homes in the West Bank.

The decision to build in Givat Ze'ev, a Jewish settlement near the Palestinian administrative center of Ramallah, has dealt another blow to the faltering US-backed Annapolis peace process, Palestinians and diplomatic sources say.

Olmert is under growing pressure from settlers who are opposed to the Annapolis process. "No differences of opinion can overcome the sense of deep obligation and appreciation that I and the entire country must have for the people at Mercaz Harav," Olmert said at the beginning of a cabinet meeting yesterday.

A Palestinian gunman opened fire in a library at Mercaz Harav last Thursday, killing eight Jewish students. The school is closely aligned to the settler movement and renowned for encouraging students to become soldiers.

The US has been pressuring Israel and the Palestinian Authority to reach an agreement by the end of the year, but the PA says it has lost its credibility as a result of continued settlement expansion. "Palestinians have stopped believing what we tell them about peace," the PA's senior negotiator, Sa'eb Erekat, said.

Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel had never agreed to cease settlement expansion as part of the peace process. "We said building will continue in the large settlement blocks," Regev said, adding that Olmert's approval of the building was unrelated to last week's atrocities.

In 2004, President George Bush opened the way for Israel to continue building in the West Bank, indicating that the US would not oppose big Jewish population centers remaining on the contested land.

Israel's housing ministry said that once the 530 homes were completed and sold, another 200 dwellings would be built.

Dani Dayan, chairman of Yesha Council, which represents settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said the building would do little to limit their opposition to the Annapolis peace process. "We don't see the announcement as having real political implications," he said.

Meanwhile Britain has banned a controversial member of Israel's rightwing opposition Likud party from entering the UK, using powers to exclude those deemed to be fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence. Moshe Feiglin, who lives in a West Bank settlement, was banned by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, because of "unacceptable behavior" on a visit to the UK in 2005.