GAZA (Islamweb & News Agencies) - A day after the United States announced a so-called new Middle East peace drive, Israel made a mockery of US Secretary of state, Colin Powell's vision of a 2-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict demolishing Palestinian houses in Gaza on Tuesday and defiantly announcing it would build new homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron, Al-Khalil. Three Palestinians were wounded in the fresh violence in Gaza, hospital officials said, underlining the difficulties U.S. envoys will face when they arrive in the coming days to prod peace moves forward.
Israel also said it would replace mobile homes in the Jewish settlement in the predominently West Bank City of Hebron, Al-Khalil with concrete houses, despite Secretary of State Colin Powell's call to halt settlement construction after nearly 14 months of violence.
Palestinians condemned the Israeli decision as irresponsible and a ``flagrant challenge to the American administration.''
Under international law Jewish settlements are illegal, being built on land Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war that Palestinians want for an independent state.
The United States said that despite the standoff it saw a new opportunity for Middle East peace after Israel and the Palestinians welcomed Powell's Middle East speech on Monday.
In Geneva, Amnesty International accused Israel of increasingly using torture in interrogating Palestinians.
Powell set out U.S. policy on Monday, saying two mediators would be sent to the region and repeating calls for a two-state solution and for Palestinians to end violence.
The speech marked the first time President George Bush's administration has outlined ideas for ending the 53-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The move coincided with U.S. efforts to bolster Arab backing for the war in Afghanistan