The Israeli housing ministry has invited tenders for the construction of 100 new homes at settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The houses are to be built at Ariel and El Kana, in the northern West Bank, despite international calls for a freeze on settlement activity.

The 2003 roadmap that forms the basis of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks requires Israel to freeze settlements.

The US and Europe have pressed Israel to halt settlement activity.

The Israeli government argues that it is building new homes on existing settlements, not establishing new settlements.

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Blast at Pakistan election rally ... [housing units] in Ariel and 50 in El Kana are in the framework of the policy of the government because it will be construction inside the built-up area of existing settlement blocks," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told AFP.

'Bad faith'

Palestinians see continued settlement building as a sign of Israeli bad faith in the peace talks being conducted with the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, which runs Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

All Jewish settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

Also on Friday, the Israeli army said that troops had shot dead a local leader of the Palestinian militant group, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, at the Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the West Bank. He was named as Hani al-Kabi.

Meanwhile, an Israeli decision to close off the West Bank and Gaza Strip for a week over the Jewish holiday of Passover has come into effect.

Israel says the ban has been introduced for security reasons.

(BBC)

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