Israeli candidate's stance may stir clash with U.S.

JERUSALEM - The front-runner in Israel's election said in an interview published yesterday that he would let Jewish settlements expand in the West Bank if he is elected prime minister, threatening to put him at odds with the Obama administration.

The remarks by hawkish Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu come just before new U.S. special envoy George Mitchell travels to the Middle East, where he will visit Israel, the West Bank and elsewhere for talks aimed at keeping alive a fragile Gaza cease-fire and reviving peace negotiations.

Mitchell is a critic of Israel's West Bank settlements, which are a key issue in peace talks. He is expected to meet with Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu.

Netanyahu, who is already a critic of U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, was quoted by the Haaretz daily as saying he would allow the Jewish settlements to expand to accommodate "natural growth" - building new housing for growing families.

Such growth is ruled out in the internationally backed road map peace plan that serves as the basis for negotiations.

With Israel's Feb. 10 election just two weeks away and polls showing Netanyahu's party ahead, Israel and the United States appeared headed for a clash.

U.S. policy supports creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza next to Israel, but Netanyahu, who served as Israel's prime minister from 1996 to 1999, has always opposed giving up territory in the West Bank, maintaining that Israel needs to control it for security.

"I have no intention of building new settlements in the West Bank," Netanyahu was quoted as telling international Mideast envoy Tony Blair on Sunday. "But like all the governments there have been until now, I will have to meet the needs of natural growth in the population. I will not be able to choke the settlements."

The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank as part of a future independent state that would also include the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. They say Israel's settlements, now home to 280,000 people in the West Bank, make it increasingly difficult for them to establish a viable state.

Netanyahu's positions do not significantly differ from departing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has allowed construction in existing settlements to continue even while holding peace talks with the Palestinians. Still, Mitchell's appointment has some Israeli leaders worried that the Obama administration will be tougher on Israel than the Bush administration was.

It was Mitchell who in 2001 called for a freeze on all Israeli settlement construction, including "natural growth," when he led an international commission to investigate violence in the Middle East.

The latest election polls show Netanyahu's Likud leading the Kadima party and its candidate, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, by about five seats in the 120-seat parliament. The polls showed hawkish parties winning a majority in the parliament, giving Netanyahu the best chance to form a government if the trends hold.

Netanyahu has said he would try to refocus peace talks on building the Palestinian economy and governing institutions instead of key issues like borders, Jerusalem, settlements and Palestinian refugees, which are at the center of the U.S.-backed talks.

That approach does not sit well with Palestinian negotiators, who want the talks to continue focusing on resolving the key disputes with Israel over settlements, final borders, the fate of disputed Jerusalem, and a solution for Palestinian refugees.