Sharon approves 1,000 settlements in WB

A political source said the move aimed to defuse resistance in Sharon's Likud party to his Gaza pullout plan and to bringing center-left proponents into his coalition. Likud members are to convene on Wednesday to vote on a link-up with the Labour party.

The sources said the tender package did not flout recent understandings with Washington that new Jewish housing in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians are in revolt, would be built within existing settlement boundaries.

They noted that President Bush assured Sharon in April that if he carried out his "disengagement" from Gaza, Israel could count on retaining parts of the West Bank with some large settlements under any future peace deal with Palestinians.

But Washington has also been pressing Israel to dismantle proliferating settler outposts and curb settlement expansion to help revive an internationally-backed peace "road map" promising Palestinians a viable state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Political sources said the tenders involved housing in seven settlements Sharon has vowed never to cede.

"Disengagement" entails removing all 21 Gaza settlements containing 8,000 Jews while retaining larger West Bank enclaves with most of the 240,000-strong settler population.

Sharon in the past three weeks also approved tenders for 800 additional homes in the largest West Bank settlement, Maale Adumim.

AFP adds: A US delegation is to inspect Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank amid mounting frustration from Washington over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon government's failure to dismantle unauthorised settlement outposts.

US embassy spokesman Paul Patin said that the team was expected to arrive next month to "monitor Israel's compliance with the roadmap in terms of settlement activity."

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is killing off the roadmap peace plan by giving the green light to some 1,000 homes in West Bank settlements, Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat said Tuesday.

"This is a very serious development and will lead to the burying of the roadmap," Erakat told AFP.