31.   Among other things, the plan demands that Israel halt settlement expansion and continue its withdrawal from the West Bank.

32.   Arafat said Tuesday the agreement he had reached with Rabin had made clear there would be no settlement expansion.

33.   Arafat said he had sent letters to world leaders and international bodies in the wake of the Israeli decision to allow settlement expansion.

34.   At the same time, Netanyahu has lifted the building and sales freeze, restored incentives to settlers and given his blessing to settlement expansion.

35.   British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Tuesday that a halt to Jewish settlement expansion was a prerequisite for progress in the deadlocked Mideast peace talks.

36.   But he refused to say that he was opposed to the idea of settlement expansion.

37.   But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposes Palestinian independence, has allowed settlement expansion to continue.

38.   But with a government sympathetic to settlement expansion in power in Israel, Palestinians say leaving the buildings empty is an invitation to trouble.

39.   But the Palestinians, who had previously insisted the talks could not resume without a halt to the Israeli construction and settlement expansion, downplayed its significance.

40.   Complaining of widespread Israeli violations of peace agreements, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat asked President Clinton in a letter Wednesday to block Jewish settlement expansion.