RAMALLAH, December 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News AGENCIES) – Drawing outcries from the Palestinians and even threats to delay elections, defiant Israel declared Monday, December 26, plans for new houses in West Bank settlements.

The Israeli housing ministry invited tenders Monday for 228 new homes to be built in two Jewish settlements in the West Bank close to occupied east Jerusalem.

In an advertisement published in the Ha'aretz newspaper, the ministry called on construction firms to submit tenders to build 150 housing units in Beitar Illit and another 78 in Efrat.

Palestinian deputy prime minister Nabil Shaath slammed the decision as "totally unacceptable" and said the Palestinian Authority would lodge a formal complaint with the United States, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Under the terms of the internationally drafted roadmap peace plan, Israel must freeze all Jewish settlement activity and tear down wildcat outposts that have sprung up without official government approval.

Washington, which along with the European Union, Russia and the United Nations makes up the so-called quartet behind the blueprint, has repeatedly called on Israel to halt settlement expansion.

"It is an illegal action in defiance of assurances given to us by the United States and by Israel," Shaath told AFP.

"This is totally unacceptable. We will be making a formal complaint with the quartet and the United States in particular," he added.

Israel's anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said the housing ministry had, since January, published tenders for 1,131 new housing units on occupied territory, including 803 since early elections were announced in November.

"The Israeli government has made a very serious decision and we warn against the consequences," Qurei said. (Reuters)

Shaath implied that the latest tender bids were intended to fuel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's re-election as head of the centrist Kadima faction during polls on March 28.

"Do we have to pay for the campaign of Kadima?" he said.

Sharon has frequently spoken of his intention to strengthen Israel's hold on the major settlement blocs in the West Bank.

According to a leaked copy of its manifesto, Kadima is committed to setting the permanent borders of the state of Israel by giving up parts of the West Bank but holding onto major Jewish settlement blocs.

At a recent Kadima meeting, Maariv quoted MP Roni Bar-On as saying that the permanent borders will include all Jerusalem and main Jewish settlement blocs such as Gush Etzion and Maale Adumim outside the Holy City.

The party also undertakes to evacuate illegal Jewish outposts.

Opinion polls have consistently predicted that Kadima will emerge as the largest power in parliament after the March 28 election.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei condemned Monday an Israeli decision to establish a buffer zone in northern Gaza Strip, setting a list of demands the Jewish state must meet for January's Palestinian elections to be held.

"We categorically reject it. The Israeli government has made a very serious decision and we warn against the consequences," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei was quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP) as telling a weekly Palestinian cabinet meeting Monday, commenting on Sharon's planned no-man's land.

Sharon has ordered the army to establish a security zone in northern Gaza to prevent Palestinian resistance rocket attacks.

Israel will enforce the new off-limits zone in the Strip with artillery, helicopter and gunboat fire, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported Saturday quoting Israeli defense officials.

Tel Aviv also threatened Friday to use air strikes and shelling to enforce a buffer zone inside the Strip.

Any Palestinian straying into the no-man's zone, the extent of which will be determined by Israel, could be shot by Israeli troops from across the border.

The Palestinian premier also warned during the cabinet meeting that next month's parliamentary poll was at stake as it could only be held as planned if Israel refrained from interfering with the electoral process.

"We are committed to holding these elections on January 25 but only if all the conditions to ensure their success are met," Qurei said.

Al-Quds inhabitants' vote and smooth movement of voters across Israeli imposed checkpoints inside Palestinian territories were two main conditions for the success of the legislative elections, Qurei made it clear.

"If these necessary conditions are not met, then we cannot say in all honesty that we will be able to organize them," he said.

"Voting in Jerusalem is an essential condition for the holding of elections," he averred.

Palestinians were infuriated Wednesday by Sharon's office announcing that voters in east Jerusalem would be barred from taking part, prompting talk of a possible postponement.

But following US calls for the two sides to resolve the dispute, a senior Israeli official said Sunday that Israel "will contemplate" the possibility of Palestinians voting at polling stations in east Jerusalem, according to AFP.