LONDON, Aug 2 (AFP) - Britain Monday expressed concern over an Israeli plan to build 600 new homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim.
"I urge the Israeli government, in accordance with phase one of the roadmap that (Israeli prime minister) Ariel Sharon agreed to last year, to freeze all settlement activity including the natural growth of existing settlements," junior foreign office minister Elizabeth Symons said in a statement.
She also called on Israel to dismantle "all outposts built since 2001."
Under the terms of the roadmap peace plan, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories where around 245,000 Israelis live.
But Israel's defense ministry said Monday that Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz had given the green light to the construction of 600 new buildings in Maale Adumin, the largest of the West Bank settlements.
"I am very concerned by reports that the Israeli government has decided in principle to build 600 new housing units in Maaleh Adumim," Symons said.
Maale Adumim, which is situated close to Jerusalem on the road to Jericho, is home to 28,000 Jewish residents.
The new units are expected to house some 2,000 Israelis which would represent a seven percent rise in the settlement's population.