Western demands to freeze settlement-building seem likely to dominate talks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold with the U.S. Middle East envoy and political leaders in Britain and Germany this week, Reuters reported. On the eve of the visit, Peace Now, an Israeli group opposed to Jewish settlements on Palestinian territory, said on Sunday that despite a government moratorium announced last week on approving new housing in the West Bank enclaves, more than 40,000 more homes could be built under plans already ratified. Netanyahu, who meets U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, in London later this week, said on Sunday Israel and the Palestinians might resume stalled peace talks in September. The Israeli leader flies on Monday to London where he plans to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday and Mitchell on Wednesday. Mitchell has been trying to reach an agreement with Israel on a settlement freeze Obama has demanded in accordance with a 2003 peace "road map" that also calls on the Palestinians to rein in militants. The issue has opened the widest rift in Israeli-U.S. relations in a decade. The four-day trip includes a stop in Berlin, where Netanyahu will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday. Like Brown, she has been critical of Israel's settlement policy. Some 500,000 Jews live in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, territory Israel captured in a 1967 war and also home to 2.5 million Palestinians. Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with its capital in Jerusalem. -- SPA
