Bush 'hopeful' of Mideast peace deal

“The meeting will take place tomorrow (Friday) at ministerial level,” Farhan Haq told reporters. At the behest of Saudi Arabia, the Arab group at the United Nations has been lobbying for weeks for a debate on the controversial issue but the United States, Israel’s staunchest ally, had so far expressed reservations.

A diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Arab group pushed for a debate Friday to take advantage of the presence of several foreign ministers currently attending the UN General Assembly’s annual debate. In August, Israel approved construction of 400 new homes in a Jewish neighbourhood in annexed east Jerusalem and invited bids for construction of another 416 settler homes in the occupied West Bank.

The construction of settlements - viewed as a major obstacle to reaching a peace deal - has nearly doubled since 2007, despite Israel’s pledge to freeze such activities, the Israeli watchdog Peace Now said last month.

A report from Peace Now found that 2,600 housing units are currently under construction throughout Israeli settlements, of which some 55 per cent are located to the east of the fence separating east Jerusalem from the West Bank.

Israel and the Palestinians have been holding formal US-backed peace talks since November 2007 aimed at resolving their decades-old conflict by the time US President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.