A day after the US president George W. Bush pressured visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to give up his plan to expand a key Jewish settlement in the West Bank, construction continues in Israel's largest settlement in the region.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia - convening a weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah on Tuesday - spoke out against the construction of new Israeli settlements on disputed land.

"We disagree and we strongly condemn dealing with a group of settlements around Jerusalem, in Bethlehem or in Ariel, south of the West Bank or anywhere in the Palestinian land. We will not anticipate the result of the ongoing negotiations."
 
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle-east War, and over the past four decades has built up scores of settlements in the area that are now home to more than 200,000 people.

And Sharon has plans to build another 3,600 housing units.

The construction, reflects the latest rift between Israel and the United States over the future of settlements in the West Bank.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat warned Israel not to contravene the roadmap peace obligations.

"If settlements and the wall continue, President Bush's vision of a two state solution will evaporate. At the end of the day it is either peace or settlements - no one can have both."

(CRI.com April 13, 2005)