Military

DATE=8/5/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS (LONG-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-318063

BYLINE=ROSS DUNN

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Israel says it never promised to freeze settlement activity.

INTRO: An Israeli diplomat says that there has never been an Israeli pledge to freeze settlement activity in the West Bank as called for in the international road map peace plan.

His statement came as the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, held talks Thursday with a visiting U.S. envoy on a range of issues including the settlements. Ross Dunn reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Mr. Sharon met Thursday with U.S. National Security Council senior director for Near East Affairs, Elliot Abrams, following reports about Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank.

Earlier this week, the State Department objected to a plan to build 600 new housing units in Maale Adumim, the largest West Bank settlement, on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Palestinian Minister for Negotiations, Saeb Erekat, says this is against the international road map peace plan, which calls for a ban on all settlement activity.

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"The Israeli government to expand the settlement of Maale Adumim by constructing 600 new housing units in this settlement is a flagrant violation of the road map, that specified that the Israeli Government should stop all settlement activities including natural growth. And it is also a flagrant violation of all promises made by this Israeli government, made to President Bush concerning the cessation of settlement activity."

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But a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington, Mark Regev, told Israel Radio that such promises had never been made.

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"Lets be clear here. Some people in the international community have called for a complete and total freeze on settlement activity. Israel has never accepted this. We have never claimed or hinted that we have accepted this."

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His statement coincided with the beginning of construction on Thursday of another road to link Maale Adumim to Jerusalem.

Israeli officials confirmed that they envisaged the building of new homes along the route.

An aide to Mr. Sharon, however, said the Prime Minister told Mr. Abrams there are no new plans to link the settlement to Jerusalem.

The Prime Minister said that current construction is part of a project devised in 1994 to build hotels and tourist sites in the area. (SIGNED)

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