JERUSALEM: Israeli settlers are continuing to build in the occupied West Bank despite a partial moratorium on new projects that expires later this year, the Peace Now settlement watchdog said Thursday.
Authorities do not appear to have issued any new construction permits since the start of the year, but the group said it had documented dozens of instances in which settlers have begun building new structures in violation of the ban.
"Peace Now in the past few months has recorded a significant slowdown in building starts, but not a complete cessation," it said in a statement.
"The settlers, in cooperation with the government, had prepared themselves for a construction freeze and hundreds of housing units were approved in (the) two months that preceded the decision," it added.
"If the government will not renew the freeze in September, the last 10 months will not have significantly affected the expansion of settlements in the territories," it said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reluctantly agreed to the 10-month moratorium in November after months of US pressure to halt settlement growth, a key Palestinian demand for the renewal of direct peace talks.
The Palestinians have always dismissed the move as insufficient since it did not include occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, public buildings or projects already under way, while Washington hailed the move as "unprecedented."
The gesture failed to convince the Palestinians to relaunch direct talks with Israel last suspended in December 2008, but in May the two sides agreed on indirect "proximity" talks led by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
Mitchell was expected to meet with Israeli officials on Thursday and Palestinian officials on Friday for the latest round of indirect talks, which have yet to show any progress in resolving the decades-old conflict.
