Jerusalem - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israeli settlers to show restraint after a limited building freeze expires on Sunday, a plea that appeared aimed at persuading Palestinians not to quit peace talks.
Settler leaders vowed to begin erecting next week 2 000 homes in the occupied West Bank, where Netanyahu in November imposed under US pressure a 10-month moratorium on housing starts.
Celebrating the end of the partial freeze, set to expire at midnight, settlers and members of Netanyahu's Likud party released balloons into the sky at a rally at the settlement of Revava in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to quit the direct peace negotiations, launched in Washington on September 2, unless the moratorium was extended.
Netanyahu, whose governing coalition is dominated by pro-settler parties, has resisted calls from US President Barack Obama to do so.
But the Israeli leader has held out the prospect of limiting the scope of renewed construction, a message he seemed to underscore in an official statement.
“The prime minister calls on the residents in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the political parties to show restraint and responsibility today and in the future exactly as they showed restraint and responsibility throughout the months of the freeze,” it said.
A Palestinian official said there was no breakthrough in US efforts to save the negotiations. David Axelrod, a close confidant of US President Barack Obama, said the two sides were working with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other US officials to reach a deal on the settlement issue. - Reuters