JERUSALEM, June 1 (Reuters) - Israel announced plans on Sunday to build hundreds of new homes in an area of the occupied West Bank the Israeli government considers part of Jerusalem, despite U.S. and Palestinian calls to halt settlement expansion. There was no immediate Palestinian comment on the announcement, issued two days before Olmert embarks on a three-day visit to Washington. The 2003 peace "road map", reaffirmed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders at a conference hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush in November, requires a halt to all settlement activity on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood. Housing Minister Zeev Boim instructed his office to publish a tender to build an additional 763 housing units in Pisgat Zeev and 121 housing units at Har Homa, an area Palestinians refer to as Jabal Abu Ghneim. Both sites are located on lands captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war, and were incorporated into the municipal borders of Jerusalem in an act not recognised internationally. A Boim spokesman said the new tenders were a part of steps the government was taking to "strengthen Jerusalem." However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in keeping with the previous government's policy, has vowed to keep West Bank settlement blocs, including enclaves near Jerusalem, under any future peace accord. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Last month Boim instructed his office to publish a tender to build 286 new homes in the Jewish settlement of Beitar Illit, near Jerusalem. Palestinian leaders say settlement expansion around Jerusalem could cut off Palestinians' access to the holy city and carve up the West Bank in a way that would deny them a contiguous state. (Reporting by Avida Landau; editing by Richard Williams)
An Israeli tank rolls into Israel at Sufa crossing just outside the southern Gaza Strip after a Palestinian demonstration, May 30, 2008. Israeli troops used gunfire and teargas on Friday to ...
