Tel Aviv, December 31 (SPA) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has barred new construction work, building planning and occupancy tenders at West Bank settlements without his approval, a move meant to bolster U.S.-backed peace talks, documents show.
Olmert has been under U.S. pressure to help jumpstart peace talks, soured by disputes over Jewish settlement construction, ahead of a visit by President George W. Bush early next month, according to a report of Reuters.
In a December 30 letter to the ministers of defense, housing and agriculture, Olmert wrote that “construction, new building,
expansion, preparation of plans, publication of residency tenders, confiscation of land stemming from other settlement activities in the (West Bank) area will not go forward and will not be implemented without requesting and receiving in advance approval by the defense minister and the prime minister.”