Angry US turns up the heat on Israel

JERUSALEM - The war of words between Israel and the United States over Jewish settlements is growing.

Washington's latest rebuke criticises as provocative Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to allocate $US350 million ($828 million) to shore up settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, where 200,000 Jews live among three million Palestinians.

"We question why Israel would be allocating more money for settlements at this time," said State Department spokesman Philip Reeker yesterday.

"This activity risks further inflaming the already volatile situation in the region and is provocative."

In the latest violence, Palestinian gunmen killed a Jewish settler and at least 19 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire.

Meanwhile, thousands of mourners yesterday attended the funeral of 4-month-old Iman Hejjo, a Palestinian girl killed by an Israeli tank shell fired at a refugee camp after a mortar attack on a Jewish settlement.

Iman is the youngest victim of the conflict so far. Shalhevet Pas, the 10-month-old daughter of settlers, was killed in March by a Palestinian sniper.

The US statement calling new spending on settlements provocative was described as unfair by a spokesman for Sharon.

Raanan Gissin said Israel was not building new settlements but simply improving the infrastructure for those already there and accommodating "natural growth" of their populations.

"This money is in no way provocative. What's provocative about building a nursery because more babies are being born?" asked the Israeli spokesman.

Settlements on land Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war are illegal under international law, but the settlers say they have a God-given right to live anywhere in the biblical land of Israel.

Under interim peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians, the future of settlements is to be determined in a final agreement.

Washington has been increasingly vocal in its criticism of Israeli policy as violence with the Palestinians continues with no end in sight.

An Israeli push last month into a corner of Gaza after a Palestinian mortar attack on a town in southern Israel ended abruptly when US Secretary of State Colin Powell termed the incursion excessive.

Israeli commentators said Powell's statement marked a turning point in what had been a honeymoon relationship between the new Bush Administration and the Sharon Government.

Since September, when the uprising began, 409 Palestinians, 77 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed.

- REUTERS

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