U.S. says new West Bank settlement plans don't help

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday Israeli plans to build a new Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank did not help to create a positive atmosphere before talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders next week.

An Israeli Defense Ministry committee has approved the construction of 20 housing units in Maskiot, an abandoned military base in the Jordan Valley, for some of the families removed from settlements in the Gaza Strip during Israel's pullout in 2005, Israeli officials said on Thursday.

The project cannot go ahead without approval from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak is expected to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington on Tuesday, a U.S. official said.

Rice is also expected to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, the lead Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators, in Washington on Wednesday.

She plans to meet each one separately and then hold the latest in a series of trilateral meetings to try to advance U.S. President George W. Bush's long-shot effort to secure an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of the year.

Asked about the Maskiot plans, U.S. State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters: "The secretary has been very clear that ... (we) don't believe that this contributes to the atmosphere that we are looking for in terms of proceeding forward with the Middle East peace process."

"We believe it's important that we have as positive an environment as we can to make some progress as we head towards the end of the year," he added. "We have said clearly that this isn't viewed as helpful."

Olmert has continued to allow building within West Bank settlements that Israel considers to be part of Jerusalem and which it says it will keep in any peace agreement.

The Palestinians say settlements, which the World Court has deemed illegal, could deny them a viable and contiguous state.

In 2006, the United States pressured Israel to halt plans to build settler homes in Maskiot, saying it would violate the terms of a U.S.-backed peace road map.

The road map calls for a halt to Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and for Palestinians to rein in militants.

(Editing by David Alexander and Peter Cooney)