CAIRO, Aug 3 (AFP) - Egypt on Tuesday denounced as a provocation Israel's approval for 600 new settlement homes to be built in the West Bank in defiance of the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan.
"Egypt strongly condemns the Israeli government's decision to expand the Maale Adumim settlement," said Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, who charged that the decision was part of an "Israeli policy of provocation".
Maale Adumim, the largest of the West Bank settlements situated close to Jerusalem, is home to 28,000 Jewish residents. The new units are expected to house a further 2,000.
Abul Gheit described the plan as "a blatant violation of Israel's commitments under its agreements (with the Palestinians), UN Security Council resolutions and the roadmap, which clearly calls for an end to settlement activities".
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.
The Egyptian minister welcomed Washington's comments criticising the Israeli decision. The United States on Monday stressed that the roadmap "calls for an end to all settlement activities, including natural growth".
He also called on Washington "as sponsor of the peace process, to take concrete action, along with the quartet, to put a stop to this plan".
Apart from the United States, the diplomatic "quartet" for Middle East peace, co-authors of the roadmap, also comprises the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
Abul Gheit called on the other three members to "take firm action against these deeds, which deepen the lack of trust and confirm (Israel's) intention to seize additional Palestinian territories".
The ailing roadmap's original aim was to bring about the conditions for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel by 2005.
Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa joined in the condemnation. The construction project was "another chapter in the long litany of serious Israeli violations", Mussa said in a statement sent to AFP.
The head of the Cairo-based organisation said it was proof that the Israeli government "persists with measures aimed at killing off the prospects of establishing a Palestinian state".