Settlers across the West Bank are ready to begin building again
Israel’s partial ban on settlement construction in the West Bank has expired, with no sign of a renewal of the 10-month-old moratorium.
Minutes after the freeze ended, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to continue peace talks to reach a “historic” deal.
His comments came as Jewish settlers were expected to resume building.
Earlier, Mr Abbas warned that peace talks would be a “waste of time” unless the freeze was extended.
Israel says the settlements are no bar to talks, but US negotiators have been working intensively to secure a deal.
The freeze on building in the West Bank expired at midnight local time on Sunday (2200 GMT).
“Israel is ready to pursue continuous contacts in the coming days to find a way to continue peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement released just after the moratorium ended.
He called on the Palestinians to continue the talks, which recently resumed after a 20-month pause and have the strong backing of US President Barack Obama.
It was possible “to achieve a historic framework accord within a year”, Mr Netanyahu said.
However, his statement did not directly mention the issue of the settlement freeze.
Earlier, the Israeli premier urged Jewish settlers “to display restraint and responsibility”.
Mr Abbas has made no public comments since the moratorium ended.
On Sunday, he warned that the peace talks renewed earlier this month would be futile unless the ban continued.
“If Israel does not continue the settlement freeze, the peace process will be a waste of time,” the AFP news agency quoted him as saying during a visit to Paris.
Meanwhile, some Jewish settlers have started celebrating the end of the freeze.
At the Jewish settlement of Revava, near the Palestinian town of Deir Itsia, reports said they released balloons and broke ground for a new nursery school.
It is estimated that about 2,000 housing units in the West Bank already have approval and settler leaders say they plan to resume construction as soon as possible.
The partial moratorium on new construction was agreed to by Israel in November 2009 under pressure from Washington.
It has never applied to East Jerusalem settlements.
On Thursday, US President Barack Obama urged Israel to extend its moratorium, saying it had “made a difference on the ground, and improved the atmosphere for talks”.
Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are held to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
