Israel moves to build new settlement

Israel is mulling a three-week delay to the operation to pull settlers out of the Gaza Strip to avoid clashing with a Jewish mourning period, a source close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday.

The head of the disengagement office, Jonathan Bassi, suggested at a cabinet meeting Sunday that the month-long operation, set to begin on July 20, be postponed to allow observant Jews to mourn the destruction of the second Jewish Temple.

Sharon was studying the proposal but was wary of agreeing to a delay, which could lead to disruption for pupils at the start of the new school year.

Yaakov Harel, a spokesman for the Israel Lands Authority, said a tender had been issued for the construction work at the religious settlement of Elkana in the nothern West Bank which is currently home to more than 3,250 people.

The houses "will be built by private entrepreneurs on state land," Harel told AFP.

The move was immediately denounced by the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now as a clear violation of the government's commitments under a peace plan known as the roadmap.