Figures released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday have revealed a 35% growth in construction within Israeli settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories.

Work on 1,849 housing units in settlements were started during 2003, up from 1,369 in 2002, according to the figures.

The growth coincided with an overall slump in the Israeli housing sector, which fell 8 percent in 2003, its lowest level in 14 years.

The settlements, illegal under international law, contradict the obligations set out in the ‘road map’, the US led peace plan. The plan, which had unequivocally called for a complete freeze of all settlement activity, including natural growth, has found little more than rhetorical commitment during the past months and is increasingly sidestepped by Israel’s unilateral ‘disengagement plan’ from Gaza.

The disparity in the figures is seen by many to be a strong indication of the strategic importance Israel attaches to settlement expansion, as a means to ‘create’ facts on the ground and effectively curtail a peaceful resolution of the conflict, which would include the Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas occupied in 1967.

The figures also seem to support claims made by Palestinian and Israeli peace movements, such as Peace Now, that it has been Israel’s systematic policy to increase the number of settlers beyond the Green Line (Israel-West Bank border), and to make their life and economy better than that in Israel.

With the exception of reiterations made by US State Department’s spokesman Richard Boucher that Washington expects the Israeli government to keep its commitment to President Bush to dismantle all the unauthorized settlement outposts and take further steps towards an end to settlement, little criticism was registered.

Various local and international organizations covering the Israeli settlement activities estimate the number of settlers currently living in occupied Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem, at around 400,000 settlers, housed in some 150 settlements.

Israel’s settlement growth during the past year has largely escaped criticism from the international community.

Hassan Abu Libdeh, speaking on behalf of Palestinian PM Ahmed Qureia, said that the settlement expansion showed Israel's lack of commitment to the road map and what he described as "US bias [in favor of] this Israeli government."