Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to approve the construction of hundreds of new apartments in West Bank settlements, before accepting US and Palestinian demands for a -temporary - settlement freeze, an Israeli official confirmed Friday, dpa reported. Only after he green-lights the new constructions will Netanyahu consider a moratorium on any more new building in Israel's West Bank settlements, a senior government official who preferred not to give his name confirmed to the German Press Agency dpa. In addition to the hundreds of new approvals, the construction of some 2,500 homes in various West Bank settlements that have already begun and are in various stages of progress would also continue and not be included in the building freeze. According to media reports, the US has demanded a construction freeze of one year. Netanyahu's office said Thursday that progress had been made in talks with the US on the issue of West Bank settlement construction. US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, is due in the region next week to hammer out the details of an agreement, which the sides hope to finalize before the start of a US General Assembly session in New York later this month. Obama hopes that a deal on a settlement freeze would allow him to host a triple summit with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting in New York - possibly on September 23 or 24. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not met since the hardline Netanyahu took office in March, following elections in which the bloc of right-wing parties headed by his Likud won a majority of mandates. Abbas has made a total freeze of all construction in and around Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank a condition for resuming peace talks. Netanyahu has insisted that while Israel will build no new settlements, construction at existing ones to accommodate for "natural population growth" should be allowed to continue. Construction in Jewish neighbourhoods built within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries - but on occupied West Bank land - would also continue. -- SPA
