Tel Aviv - Israel has authorized the construction of 1,450 apartments in the West Bank settlement of Adam, Israel Army Radio reported Monday, quoting a court document. The report comes as Defence Minister Ehud Barak is scheduled to meet with US President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, in Washington Monday in a bid to iron out the Israeli-US dispute over ongoing Israeli construction on the occupied West Bank.
The construction in Adam, a Jewish settlement north of Jerusalem and south of the West Bank city of Ramallah, was authorized by Barak's Defence Ministry, Army Radio said, as part of a plan to relocate Jewish settlers there from an unauthorized outpost that is to be evacuated.
Of the 1,450 homes, the Defence Ministry authorized the immediate construction of 50 apartments to house the settler families from Migron, the largest unauthorized settlers' outpost in the West Bank, reported Army Radio, quoting a update submitted by the Israeli government to the country's supreme court.
Barak's meeting with Mitchell comes after a parley between the Obama envoy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scheduled to take place in Paris last week was cancelled amid the row over settlements.
While Obama is demanding a complete freeze of all Israeli building on the occupied West Bank, the Netanyahu government has insisted on ongoing construction within existing settlements to accommodate for "natural growth."
Barak on Sunday would not confirm reports that Israel had decided to temporarily freeze all Israeli building in the West Bank for three months, including for natural growth.
Israel is hoping to reach a compromise with the United States regarding the demand for a total freeze.
While thus far refusing to accept the total freeze, it has promised to uproot unauthorized outposts, set up by settlers without formal government approval since Israel built its last, government- sponsored settlement in the West Bank in 1996.
