ARABS-ISRAEL - Jan. 2 - Israeli Plan For More Golan Settlers Criticised.

Commenting on Israel's announcement that it plans a major expansion of Jewish settlements in the Golan Heights, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli says: "It has been our long-standing policy that there should not be settlement activity in land that the final status of which has not been determined through negotiations. The State Department supports direct negotiations between the Israelis and Syrians to resolve the issue of the Golan". (Israel's announcement angered Syria, from which Israel seized the territory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The plan, approved recently and disclosed on Dec. 30, comes just two months after Syrian President Bashar Al Assad called for renewed peace talks between his country and Israel). US government officials say the expansion plan hax been in the works for months and deny that its approval was intended as a response to Assad's vague proposal, made during an interview with The NYT. Assad said in the interview he wished to resume talks, broken off nearly 3 years ago, on returning the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for security guarantees to Israel. But Israeli Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, who heads the government's settlement committee, said on Israeli Radio and TV on Dec. 31 the plan was meant to send Assad the message that "the Golan is an inseparable part of the state of Israel, and we have no intention to give up our hold". Katz's spokesman, Benni Romm, said late on Dec. 31 "the message for the terrorist, Assad" is that there is a cost for "his harbouring terrorists". In October, Israel attacked what it described as a terrorist training camp in Syria. The expansion plans would pour about $90m into existing settlements in the territory of 1,900 sq km, and bring in 900 Jewish families over the next 3 years. The investment would focus on developing agriculture and tourism. The new settlers would increase the number of Israelis in the thinly populated highland by about a quarter. The plan drew a quick and angry response from Damascus, where the official Syrian press agency, SANA, quoted a government spokesman as saying the move would "block the way to any inclination or initiative to push matters in the direction of achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region".