Israel approves 300 new settlements in West Bank

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz signed permits allowing for the construction of the housing units on the western fringes of Ariel, which would be in contravention of the US-backed roadmap for peace plan, three months ago but the tenders have not yet been issued due to "diplomatic considerations."

The defense ministry would not comment on the report but the mayor of Ariel, Ron Nachman, told AFP that a new tranche of building work had been approved, without saying when, emphasising that it formed part of a wider "development plan" for 2,000 homes which was given the go-ahead several years ago.

Ariel, which is home to around 18,000 residents, lies some 20km to the east of the internationally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank, the so-called Green Line.

The news emerged after Washington slapped the Israeli government on the wrist last week after it confirmed plans to build 600 new homes in Maale Adumin, the largest of the West Bank settlements.

Under the terms of the roadmap, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement activity in the occupied territories.

The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said that Mofaz and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "were acting like thieves" in the night and damaging the special relationship with the United States.

"The construction of hundreds of new housing blocks east of the Green Line is a death blow to the solution of two states for two people and damages any future attempt to reach a permanent agreement with the Palestinian people," it said in a statement.

"We call upon the government to stand by its commitments to the Israeli public and the world at large, to freeze all plans of construction over the Green Line."

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities began distributing iodine anti-radiation tablets yesterday to thousands of residents living near the controversial Dimona nuclear reactor.

An army spokesman said that soldiers had begun delivering the Lugul tablets to homes and that a distribution center was also being opened under the supervision of health experts.

The tablets will be handed out in the towns of Yeroham, Dimona and Aruar, and other surrounding villages as well as to Bedouins living in the southern Negev desert close to the Dimona reactor.

The government announced back in June that it would distribute the tablets, which have been stored for the last 20 years, as a preventive measure.

It denied that there was any cause for concern about safety measures or levels of radiation, adding that similar precautions had been taken in other foreign countries.