EU raps Israel on settlement building plan

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union condemned on Monday Israeli plans to build hundreds of new homes in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, saying a Palestinian attack on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem did not justify such a move.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after a meeting of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers: "The latest statement by the Israeli government as far as settlements is concerned, we'd like to say we deplored that statement.

"We think that the reaction to what happened on the ground is not justified," he told a news conference, recalling that a halt to settlement activity was enshrined in the first phase of an international peace plan, known as the Road Map.

Israel said on Sunday that plans to build a total of 750 homes in Givat Ze'ev, a settlement near Jerusalem, were being revived.

The new building was announced three days after a Palestinian gunman killed eight students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem associated with the settler movement.

The European Union is part of the Quartet of international mediators which is trying to promote peace talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel by the end of this year, as agreed in Annapolis, Maryland, last November.

(reporting by Paul Taylor, editing by Elizabeth Piper)