An Israeli government agency has been advocating over the past two years plans to construct thousands of housing units in the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, local daily Ha'aretz reported Friday.

The plans were drawn up by the Civil Administration, the body responsible for nonmilitary matters in the Palestinian territory, said the report, adding that details of the plans appear in the minutes of the agency's environmental subcommittee and were obtained by an Israeli human rights watchdog named B'Tselem.

According to the report, the plans, which have not yet been approved by the government, include proposals to construct 10,500 housing units in six settlements and settlement blocs and increase inhabitants of two other settlements.

"The environmental subcommittee does not discuss approval for housing units at all, but deals with the professional aspects of the area's environmental needs, sometimes at the theoretical level," a Civil Administration spokesman was quoted as saying in response.

The settlement issue is vital to the sluggish Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Palestinian officials have long been stressing that continued settlement expansion is a key factor stalling the peace talks, and the United States and the European Union have also urged Israel to cease settlement activities.

Despite Israel's formal commitment to freeze settlement expansion, several new construction plans have been reported during last year.

Israeli officials have said that the Jewish state would retain some major settlement blocs under any peace deal with the Palestinians, and Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu said recently that he would allow certain settlements to expand "naturally."

Source:Xinhua