国际英语新闻：Israeli settlers renew West Bank construction, maybe discreetly

JERUSALEM, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli settler groups on Sunday ended a 10-month moratorium on construction in Jewish communities in the West Bank, with a well-publicized cornerstone- laying ceremony at the Revava settlement in the northern West Bank, near the Israeli city of Ariel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Sunday, however, reportedly asked the leadership of the settlement movement to keep a low profile in any activities celebrating the end of Israel's self-imposed settlement construction moratorium.

WEST BANK SETTLERS TO BUILD

Netanyahu called on the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (YESHA) to behave in a "restrained and responsible manner," according to Israel Army radio.

The Prime Minister's Office has not said if Netanyahu will extend the freeze, or if any, to what extent, when the deadline expires at midnight.

While Netanyahu's words may have been heeded to a greater or lesser degree by the settler leadership who are anxious to create facts on the ground, some rank and file activists were contemptuous of the premier's call for restraint.

A right-wing activist argues with a left-wing activist taking part in a protest in Jerusalem calling on the continuation of a building freeze, Sept. 26, 2010. The moratorium on Israeli construction in West Bank settlements, declared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last November, was set to expire at midnight on Sunday.

"I'm sure that they're going to tell us that we should breathe very quietly, or talk or walk quietly, since this might be a provocation," Nadia Matar, a resident of the community of Efrat south of Jerusalem in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, told Xinhua.

However, the settlement leaders hinted that they will build in a gradual and discreet way.

"We are going back to normal construction," Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shaul Goldstein said after a council meeting on Sunday morning. His area, situated between Jerusalem and Hebron, includes more than 15 communities and upwards of 60,000 residents, including Efrat.

"There are people who have already signed a contract with a contractor and there are those who have not. So we will view the construction as a developing move and will not do it immediately," Goldstein said.

Right after the cornerstone-laying ceremony, several hundred settlers and supporters rallied at Revava Sunday afternoon to mark the end of the moratorium, as tractors and construction gear poured the foundation for a kindergarten.

DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS CONTINUE

While settlers are ready to begin construction across the West Bank, Israeli and Palestinian officials, as well as international mediators are still making efforts to save the direct negotiations which restarted less than a month ago.