Apartheid Alive and Well in Occupied Territories

Israel approves settlement growth

Building at Givat Zeev has been stalled for several years

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has approved a plan to build up to 750 new homes in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

The project was first signed off in 1999, but stopped two years later after Palestinian labourers refused to go on.

Israel's housing minister said the construction at Givat Zeev would address "the demographic needs of Jerusalem".

But the decision provoked an angry reaction from Palestinian leaders.