Jerusalem: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed that Israel would press on with settlement building on occupied Palestinian land despite international calls for a halt to the activity.

At a meeting with the foreign press in Jerusalem yesterday, Olmert also said he expected to reach only the framework of a peace deal with the Palestinians this year and warned of "painful" action against Hamas to halt militant attacks from the Islamist-controlled Gaza Strip.

Israel's settlement activity is one of the major reasons why Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have made little progress since they were renewed at a US conference in late November.

But Olmert said: "There will be additional building as part of reality of life, and this fact was well explained to everyone involved."

Israel's staunch ally Washington, along with other nations, have urged the government to refrain from settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem to give peace talks a chance.

Olmert also played down the chances of a comprehensive peace deal in 2008.

"What we are trying to achieve is to reach a very accurate outline and definition of all basic parameters of a two-state solution," he said.

"I think that the understandings about the basic parameters that will define accurately the outline of a two-state solution, such an understanding can be reached within the current presidency."

Source : PTI