RAMALLAH, 12 March 2008 — Israel’s settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is a slap in the face of peace talks, top Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qorei charged yesterday.

“The pursuit of settlements is a slap to the peace process and to efforts to make it credible,” Qorei told reporters after meeting international Middle East envoy Tony Blair in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

“Israel is sending a very bad message that shows its contempt for the negotiations.” Israel this week unveiled new housing plans in a Jewish area in annexed East Jerusalem and in the West Bank settlement of Givat Zeev, moves that drew a chorus of international criticism and warnings they could hamper peace talks.

Staunch ally the United States said the new construction was “unhelpful” to the peace process which was revived at a US conference in November but has yet to make much headway.

At the US conference, both sides renewed their commitment to the international road map to peace, which calls on Israel to freeze settlement construction and on Palestinians to end violence.

The Jewish state has, nevertheless, refused to halt construction in annexed east Jerusalem and major West Bank settlement blocs.

The new construction plans came just days after the Palestinians temporarily suspended the peace talks in the wake of Israel’s offensive in Gaza that ended last week and that left more than 130 Palestinians dead.

Qorei confirmed that Israel and the Palestinians were set to return to the negotiating table this week in a bid to advance the peace talks, which US President George W. Bush hopes will lead to a deal by the end of the year.

Qorei said Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad will meet Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and US special envoy William Fraser, charged with monitoring the sides’ compliance with the road map.

An official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ office said the meeting was planned for Friday. “We hope that during this meeting the sides will discuss a halt to the settlement construction and lifting of (Israeli army) roadblocks across the West Bank,” Qorei said.

Gaza Rocket Hits Israel

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel yesterday just hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited the area and cautioned residents not to expect a lull in Palestinian attacks to last.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the rocket strike, the first against Israel since Sunday, saying its “battle against occupation is continuing.” Such attacks have tailed off sharply since Israel ended a Gaza offensive eight days ago and Egypt stepped up truce mediation efforts.

A police spokesman said the rocket fell in open ground south of the major Israeli city of Ashkelon, causing no injuries.

A few hours earlier, Olmert visited Ashkelon, hit by longer-range rockets during a recent surge of violence, and told residents there were no guarantees Katyusha salvos from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip would not resume.

“Don’t think it was a one-time experience,” Olmert said about Katyusha attacks that put Ashkelon within range of rocket-launching squads in the Gaza Strip, seven km (four miles) away. Israeli officials gave no indication whether the military would respond to the latest rocket strike.

Abbas said in Amman on Monday that Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the main groups in the Gaza Strip behind cross-border rocket fire at Israel, wanted assurances that in return for agreeing to a truce, their leaders would not be attacked.

Olmert has threatened to target all those behind the rocket strikes, raising speculation that Hamas’ political leadership could be on the firing line.

Hamas denied its pursuit of an Egyptian-mediated cease-fire was motivated by a desire to protect its leaders from Israeli assassination.