RAMALLAH, West - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas expressed satisfaction Wednesday after US President George W. Bush warned Israel against expanding any of its settlements in the occupied territories.
"President Abu Mazen (Abbas) welcomes the declarations by President Bush in which he confirmed the United States' commitment to the roadmap and appealed to Israel to totally halt its settlement activity in the West Bank," the Palestinian Authority said in a statement.
Abbas called on Israel "to take rapid measures for the implementation of the roadmap and to stop totally its construction of the wall and settlements on the ground in order to create the necessary conditions to relaunch the peace process."
In an unusually sharp slapdown for Washington's chief Middle East ally, Bush warned Israel Tuesday that there could be "no expansion" of settlements in Palestinian territories under the US-backed roadmap to Middle East peace.
The president was reacting to an Israeli plan to expand a major West Bank settlement outside Jerusalem, Maale Adumim.
Israeli cabinet minister Matan Vilnai said the project for 3,500 housing units at Maale Adumim had been around for years and its approval by Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz last month should not be regarded as news.
04/06/2005 11:05 GMT