WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied in comments published Saturday that the United States had agreed to expansion of Jewish settlements but said the details of Israel's peace plan obligations to a "settlement freeze" were still being studied.
The only US "commitment or assurance" is an April 14 letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in which President George W. Bush said the final borders of a promised Palestinian state must take into account demographic realities on the ground, Rice told the Washington Post.
She said those realities included existing major Israeli populations centers in the West Bank, but added: "How that is taken into account has to be negotiated."
Rice underlined that there was no US support for new building within settlements, but swiftly added that the meaning of "settlement freeze" required of Israel under the internationally drafted roadmap peace plan of 2003 was still up for discussion.
"There is no agreement that you can build some, it's one way or another," she said.
"There is at this point a desire to understand that better, so that we can understand better what a settlement freeze might really mean."
In a follow-up phone call to the Post, Rice added that the US administration had had "discussions about steps toward a settlement freeze" but "we've never reached closure on that -- it's complicated."
The comments added more fuel to the debate over Washington's position on the West Bank settlements, regarded as illegal by the wider international community, after contradictory statements attributed to the US ambassador on Friday.
Israel's biggest circulation daily Yediot Aharonot quoted Dan Kurtzer as denying that Washington had reached an agreement with Israel over the final status of large Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank.
But the ambassador later denied the report and said Washington clearly supported Israel keeping large West Bank settlement blocs in any negotiated settlement.
"US policy is the support that the president has given for the retention by Israel of the major Israeli population centres as an outcome of negotiations," Kurtzer told Israel public radio.
The renewed controversy came just days after Israel announced it would push ahead with the expansion of the largest West Bank settlement -- Maaleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem -- through the construction of more than 3,500 new homes.
The apparent clear violation of Israel's undertaking to a settlement freeze sparked an angry Palestinian response and expressions of concern from the international community, including roadmap co-sponsors the European Union and Russia.
Rice joined in the criticism in comments reported Friday in the Los Angeles Times.
She said the planned new housing units in Maale Adumim were "at odds with American policy" and that Israel's explanations were "not really a satisfactory response".
03/26/2005 12:37 GMT