Jerusalem (CNN) -- Construction has started for about 600 new housing units in the West Bank since the Israeli settlement freeze ended late last month, the group Peace Now said Thursday.
Yariv Oppenheimer, the group's director, said the Israeli peace organization has surveyed the construction activity and will come out with a detailed report next week. The group has long monitored Jewish settlement activity in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank.
The settlement construction issue is threatening to scuttle the reactivated and now stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Palestinians demanded a continuation of the settlement freeze in order to continue with the talks, and the United States has urged Israel to stop settlement activity. But the Israeli government has not continued the freeze.
A source in the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak about the issue, said, "it is clear" that any "limited" construction won't alter "the future peace map and that there is a need to return to the negotiating table".
The source said a large part of the construction is in the existing settlement blocs.
Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian government spokesman, told CNN that the settlement building reports "are very alarming because it is happening on the expense of our basic rights, on our land, and because it will reflect negatively on the sincere effort that the United States and the Quartet members are undertaking to resume a meaningful political process," a reference to the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations.
"We also think that this is a big challenge to the American efforts that would require doubling the pressure on Israel to respect the international legality and requirements of the peace process".
Dani Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha Council, which represents settlers, said life is back to normal in the West Bank.
CNN
