The continuation of construction in Israeli West Bank settlements is counterproductive to the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at reaching a peace agreement, said a prominent Catholic resident of Bethlehem.

"It perpetuates anger, distrust in the international community and the loss of hope," said George Ghattas, general director of program development at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. "Expansion of the settlements is a slap in the face of democracy and reconciliation."

To reach an agreement, he said, each side must recognize that the other side also needs space for the viable growth of its population.

"The only message we are getting (from the construction in settlements) is that (a future) Palestinian state must be on Israeli terms or nothing else," Ghattas said.

U.S. President Barack Obama has called on Israel to halt expansion of the settlements, including what has been termed as their "natural growth."

In an attempt to placate U.S. demands, Israel has indicated that it would consider drastically limiting construction in settlements temporarily and dismantling "unauthorized" West Bank outposts in exchange for certain concessions previously discussed with Arab countries that include permission to fly over their airspace and the opening of diplomatic missions. The agreement would allow for the completion of more than 100 structures already under construction.

Israel has balked, however, at committing itself to preventing natural growth in what it considers the legitimate Israeli presence in legal West Bank settlements, particularly near the larger cities of Ma'aleh Adumim and Efrat, near Bethlehem, and East Jerusalem. The U.S. government considers the area near East Jerusalem to be part of the West Bank, while Israel considers the area part of its capital city.

Recently, Israel rejected an American call to halt a proposed housing project in East Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that Jews have the right to live anywhere, which led to another rift between the two countries.

Meanwhile, violent confrontations broke out between police forces and settlers July 20 when the police evacuated three illegal structures in settlement outposts. Settlers set fire to Palestinian olive groves, threw stones at Palestinian cars and blocked roads throughout the West Bank.

Palestinians do not differentiate between settlements officially sanctioned by the government years ago and the new outposts being built by settlers throughout the West Bank without government approval. For them, all Israeli presence in the West Bank --- including East Jerusalem neighborhoods --- is unlawful.

Part of the problem when talking about settlement expansion is an issue of semantics. While for Palestinians places such as Har Homa and Har Gillo, which border the largely Christian village of Beit Jalla, are considered settlements and part of the occupied West Bank, the Israeli government defines those areas as eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem and therefore not subject to the freeze sought by the U.S. administration.

Coincidently, it was Netanyahu in his previous term as prime minister who gave final approval for the construction of Har Homa more than a decade ago despite American protests.

While West Bank Palestinian villages with large Christian populations --- Jifna, Bir Zeit, Taybeh and northern Zababdeh --- are fortunate because they are not seriously affected by settlement expansion, other communities --- those near Bethlehem and the small village of Aboud --- have not been so lucky, said Juliette Banoura, a research assistant at the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, a Palestinian research organization.

Both Aboud and the Bethlehem triangle, which includes Beit Sahour and Beit Jalla, are bordered by Israeli settlements and their corresponding infrastructure.

In Aboud, the parish priest, Father Firas Aridah, told CNS that the village is caged in on two sides by Israeli settlements and the separation barrier, by a bypass road for Israeli settlers on another side, and on the fourth side by the main highway. Aboud's natural route of expansion has been closed for years, he said.

Only about 240 acres within the village remain available for construction, and for most of that Israeli building permits are required because the lands fall under Israeli control, he said.

But settlement expansion is not all about buildings, Ghattas explained. Every Israeli hilltop settlement must have at least a five-kilometer buffer zone around it, making that land unreachable for Palestinians.

In addition, many farmers have been cut off from their land because of the roads being built to service the settlements and the Israeli separation barrier which Israel has said is necessary to prevent the infiltration of Palestinian terrorists.

Because of the lack of space for Palestinian expansion, much Palestinian construction has become vertical, concentrated in areas where there is no need for an Israeli permit, Ghattas said. This creates pockets of congestion, he added.

According to the Israeli Bureau of Statistics, in 2007, the latest year for which data is available, the population in West Bank settlements grew by 5.6 percent, three times faster than the growth of the general Israeli population. There are about 300,000 Israelis living in the West Bank, not including East Jerusalem.

"Israel is basically stalling for time," said Suhail Khalilieh, head of the settlements monitoring department at the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem. "They want to have more time to make facts on the ground from which they can start the negotiations."

---CNS