Dennis Ross slams settlement policy

David Bar-Illan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's communications director, said in response that Israel "will continue to build in the villages and towns of Judea, Samaria and Gaza to satisfy the needs of the people who live in them and their natural growth."

Bar-Illan added that he found this building "no more unusual than the building going on in villages and towns of Arab communities in the area," and stressed -- in a thinly veiled counterattack on Ross -- that "any prior criticisms of the activities in these communities only serves to prejudice the outcome of the final-status talks."

Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, the Palestinian Authority's cabinet secretary, said that "Ross' statements on settlement activities were positive, but we would like to see U.S. action against settlements."

In the interview, Ross called for the final-status talks to be resumed, saying that "they do need to be pursued on an intensive basis, on an accelerated basis," and stressed that "it's very important that these negotiations not be open-ended and we clearly will do all we can to promote such a process."