Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - The mayor of the large West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim wants his government to stand up to the U.S. and get going with new construction that has been on hold for many years.

A suburb of Jerusalem, Ma'aleh Adumim -- a city of 36,000 residents -- is considered one of the settlement blocs that Israel plans to hold onto in any final agreement with the Palestinians.

"We [Israel] are an independent state and we have a responsibility for security and social [welfare]," Ma'aleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel told Cybercast News Service.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is not the Israeli prime minister and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not her deputy, Kashriel said.

The issue of construction in Israeli communities in the West Bank has become one of the most controversial since the U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last November.

At the conference, both sides agreed to fulfill their commitments under the earlier road map agreement. That obligated Israel to halt building in settlements - defined as Israeli communities in the West Bank, where Palestinians hope to establish an independent state.

Rice said at a weekend press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah that building in the settlements was "contrary to road map obligations" and "particularly problematic for the atmosphere of trust [between Israel and the Palestinians] that is needed to move forward on a whole host of issues."

Israel insists that it never agreed to halt what it calls "natural growth" in settlement blocs, which it hopes to hold onto in a final agreement; nor did it agree to halt new housing construction inn Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

Israel interprets a letter that President Bush sent to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as saying that the U.S. more or less backs that position.

Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said that Ma'aleh Adumim is considered one of the settlement blocs where building is still permitted.

But the only building that the Israeli government has authorized in the E-1 area - located on the hills facing Ma'aleh Adumim -- is that of a police station, Regev said. He told Cybercast News Service that only one building was authorized "because Israel is doing everything to meet its international obligations."

The plan to build 3,500 housing units in the E-1 area has been in the works since 1999. Three years ago, then-Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz gave his approval for construction to begin.

All communities around Jerusalem are part of the national consensus, Mayor Kashriel said. He charged that Olmert was trying to de-legitimze his city by blocking construction in the new area.

Kashriel is hosting a reception in the hillside area on Thursday, Israel's Independence Day, to highlight the problem.

He said that building the new neighborhood, which has a commanding view of Jerusalem, as well as the area leading to the Dead Sea is "very important" for Jerusalem's security. He also said that his community has run out of land for expansion -- with the exception of E-1.

Israeli-Palestinian talks

Olmert met with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas shortly after Rice left on Monday.

David Baker, an official in Olmert's office, said the talks were "productive" and included a "wide range of issues."

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called the negotiations "very serious, very in-depth." But he said he could not use any "adjective" to describe how far along the talks are because "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

It's a "package" deal in which all issues must be settled - borders, refugees and Jerusalem, he said.

Meanwhile, Olmert got a reprieve on Tuesday when a Tel Aviv court said it would not lift the gag order on details surrounding a criminal investigation of the prime minister before the Independence Day holiday, which begins at sundown on Wednesday evening.

The secrecy surrounding the police investigation has given way to all kinds of speculation in the Israeli media. Some think Rice is pushing Olmert and Abbas to
issue a memorandum of understanding on the progress of their talks before President Bush arrives next week, fearing that Olmert's legal trouble could waylay negotiations.

Bush is due here next week to celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary. Although Bush plans to meet with Olmert and other political leaders, his visit is being described as a "state visit" as opposed to "working visit."

Since he is coming to celebrate Israel's 60th Independence Day, it wouldn't be right for him to meet with Palestinians (who still mark Israel's birthday as "the catastrophe), one U.S. official explained.