JERICHO, West Bank, Aug 19 (AFP) - Palestinians urged Washington on Thursday to put pressure on Israel to halt its latest West Bank settlement drive, a minister said.
Negotiations minister Saeb Erakat told senior US State Department official, Elizabeth Dibble, that plans approved by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this week for 1,000 new homes in four of the largest of the settlements were in direct contravention of the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan.
"We asked the Americans to commit Israel to implement their commitments, especially on the roadmap," Erakat said in a statement after the closed-door meeting in the West Bank town of Jericho.
"The new settlement activity is creating facts on the ground in violation of the roadmap and promises from the Israeli government to President Bush."
The roadmap, which has made little progress since its launch last year, obliges Israel to freeze all settlement activity in the occupied territories. The US has however merely said it is studying the latest plans.
Erakat said that he had also urged Dibble to pressure Israel into halting construction of its West Bank separation barrier as well as raising the plight of Palestinian prisoners currently on hunger strike in Israeli jails.
An American diplomatic source said that newly-appointed deputy assistant secretary of state Dibble had raised the issue of the Palestinians' security commitments.
The roadmap obliges the Palestinian Authority to crackdown on militant groups who have continued their campaign of attacks against Israel.