Our Middle East correspondent, Paul Adams, reports from Jerusalem on Israeli plans to expand settlements on the Golan:

The new plan will add 2,300 homes to the Golan Heights, significantly strengthening four Jewish settlements there.

Paul Adams reports from Jerusalem

Another 2,500 holiday units are also to be built in a move which Israeli officials say will bolster tourism and create jobs.

The plan was approved by a ministerial committee headed by Israel's hard-line Infrastructure Minister, Ariel Sharon, a man whose determination not to hand back the heights to Syria has never been in doubt.

His spokesman, Ranan Gissin, said that many people wanted to live on the heights. Israel, he said, was working to fulfil that need.

In fact, only about 15,000 Jewish settlers have gone to live there over the past 31 years, a small number compared with those who have chosen to settle on the West Bank.

The timing of Mr Sharon's announcement hardly seems accidental.

Earlier this week, there was confusion over remarks made by the Defence Minister, Yitzhak Mordechai, which seemed to suggest that Israel would still be ready to trade territory on the Golan in return for security guarantees from Syria.

The Defence Minister was attacked by Mr Sharon and the Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu was forced to respond.