Meanwhile Palestinian leaders are accusing the Bush administration of destroying hopes for peace in the Middle East by giving its covert support to Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank. This according to a report in the Guardian of London. U.S. officials are privately admitting they have abandoned their demands that Israel freeze settlement activity, and have given Jerusalem tacit permission to build thousands of new homes on the disputed land. Israeli political activist Jeff Halper told the Guardian: “Effectively a new road map has been drawn between the US and Israel which the United Nations, the European Union and Russia do not agree with.”