U.S. plans assessment of Mideast peace moves

By Adam Entous

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States will conduct confidential assessments of whether Israel and the Palestinians are meeting their peacemaking commitments and share the results privately with the parties, U.S. and Western officials said.

Israel has sought to keep the U.S. process of judging compliance with the long-stalled "road map" peace plan largely secret. Palestinians say they favor disclosure of judgments on whether Israel is halting all settlement activity and whether the Palestinians are curbing militants as the plan demands.

Though the Bush administration has decided to keep the assessment process confidential, it reserves the right to go public with its views if necessary, the officials said.

U.S. judgments will be critical because Israel has said it will not implement any peace deal until the Palestinians meet their commitments to combat militants in both the occupied West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where militants continue to fire cross-border rockets.

The monitoring process may also be a test of Washington's readiness to hold a key ally to its commitments. Despite U.S. and Palestinian pressure on Israel to freeze settlements, its construction ministry said on Sunday 740 new homes would be built on occupied land near Jerusalem next year.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed at U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis, Maryland last month to relaunch final-status peace talks with the goal of reaching a statehood agreement by the end of 2008.

They also agreed Washington -- rather than the broader Quartet of Middle East mediators -- would "monitor and judge" Israeli and Palestinian compliance with the 2003 road map.

Though Israel supports U.S. oversight, it has sent mixed messages about whether it would treat the findings as binding.