Israel Accused of Speeding Settlements : Mideast: The government is building the first Gaza Strip enclave for Jews since 1984. Foes say Shamir is exploiting his caretaker role.

By breaking ground for a new settlement on occupied land this week, the Israeli government is embarking on an aggressive campaign to speed up settlement construction in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, opposition politicians charged Wednesday.

The accusations were made as the government began work on a new settlement in the Gaza Strip, the first there since 1984 and the first anywhere in the occupied territories for months. The site, called Dugit, is about two miles from the Shati refugee camp for Palestinians.

The government of caretaker Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has also set aside at least $7.5 million to purchase properties in traditionally Arab-populated neighborhoods of Jerusalem’s Old City--this even as a controversy rages over the occupation of a building in the Christian Quarter by Jewish nationalists.

The settlement activity is a challenge to the Bush Administration, which has sought assurances from Israel that American aid--$1.2 billion for military assistance and $1.8 billion in economic help--not be used to build for settlements. Bush views the expansion of Israeli settlements as a complication in efforts to open peace talks between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III has raised the issue of whether American aid indirectly pays for settlement construction because it relieves Israel of the need to spend money elsewhere.

The Administration also has urged Israel not to settle new Soviet immigrants in the occupied land. Bush has asked Shamir for assurances that a pending $400-million loan guarantee for new housing will not be used for construction in the West Bank and Gaza.

Shamir contends that Israelis, including the new arrivals, are free to settle wherever they choose in the Land of Israel, the term used here to define the limits of Israel proper plus the West Bank and Gaza.

Dedi Zucker, a member of the Knesset, or Parliament, said Wednesday that there are plans to establish four new West Bank settlements, plus a dormitory for a yeshiva, or religious school, in the heart of the volatile Palestinian city of Nablus.

Zucker, a member of the left-wing Citizens’ Rights Party, charged that the Shamir government has taken advantage of Israel’s unsettled political situation to speed up settlement activity.

Shamir’s rightist government was voted out of power by the Knesset a month ago, but rival Shimon Peres of the left-center Labor Party has so far failed to form a majority coalition of his own. In effect, Shamir has a free hand in his caretaker role; his government no longer has to face a no-confidence vote.

“This is a very dangerous time,” cautioned Zucker. “No one can challenge the government. There is no control.”

Because Shamir is prohibited by law from filling any Cabinet posts left vacant when Labor withdrew from the fallen coalition government, he is technically in personal charge of such powerful ministries as defense and finance.

The Defense Ministry is in charge of planning the settlements, Zucker said.

Government officials were evasive about Zucker’s charges. Yossi Olmert, the government spokesman, said: “I wouldn’t get too excited about announcements of new settlements. There’s a long way between announcements and actually building.”

Added Yossi Ahimeir, a spokesman for Shamir: “There is nothing new. The settlements coming up now were agreed upon long before.”

Yossi Sarid, another member of the Citizens’ Rights Party, accused Shamir of ordering the chief of police in Jerusalem to permit a nationalist Jewish group to remain in a Christian Quarter building owned by the Greek Orthodox Church. Shamir is acting police commissioner during the government crisis.

A spokesman for Shamir denied the charge.

A court handed down an eviction order late Tuesday, but the nationalists stayed put Wednesday. The group, members of the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva and families, argued that they bought a long-term lease on the building and that despite the court order, there is no need to evacuate for 21 days. They plan to appeal the eviction to the Supreme Court.

Border police, who escorted the 150 Israelis into the complex last week, made no move to oust them.

Greek church officials urged a speedy removal of the yeshiva.

“The guards should not be protecting the thieves but rather the owners of the property,” said Bishop Timothy, the secretary of the Greek church patriarch, Diodorus I.