At Otniel, a Jewish settlement south-west of Hebron in the West Bank last night, hundreds of settlers gathered to inaugurate a new synagogue-study centre.
Among the guests of honour at the festivities was Mr Ariel Sharon, leader of the Likud opposition party, who told participants that Israel's most important mission was to expand the Jewish presence in areas such as Otniel, "because if there is one thing that will guarantee Israel's security, it is the development of places like this."
That the head of the hardline opposition would express such sentiments, even as Israel begins intensive talks with the Palestinians over the permanent status of the West Bank and other occupied territory, is only to be expected. For the Likud, long committed to bringing Jews in their tens of thousands to live in the West Bank, the dream of retaining "Greater Israel" dies hard.
What is more surprising, and is now casting a shadow over the peace talks, is that the new, moderate government of the Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, is also encouraging settlement expansion.
Mr Barak's Housing Minister, Rabbi Yitzhak Levy, another participant at last night's Otniel celebrations, yesterday invited builders to bid for the rights to construct 2,600 new settlement homes, most of them in areas close to Jerusalem.
This move follows the recent, almost unnoticed start of homebuilding at the controversial site of Har Homah, on Jerusalem's southern edge, and an apparent reluctance by the government to remove several dozen illegal settlement outposts hurriedly constructed in the last months of Mr Benjamin Netanyahu's previous Likud government.
Rabbi Levy, who heads a minor, pro-settlement party in Mr Barak's multi-party coalition, the right-wing National Religious Party, declared flatly last night that settlement-building guidelines under Mr Barak were just like those under Mr Netanyahu, and said that the new homes were designed to cater for "natural growth."
But horrified leaders of another coalition party, the left-wing Meretz, urged Mr Barak to step in and regulate the building, protesting at the potential damage to peace hopes.
Up to 200,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the Palestinians want all their settlements dismantled as part of a final peace treaty.
Meanwhile, at Otniel, - a settlement far south of Jerusalem and well outside the areas of the West Bank that Mr Barak has designated as critical to security - the local rabbi was expressing confidence that further expansion is assured.
"We're building faster than the peace process is moving," said Rabbi Benny Kalman. "I remember when there were six students out here. Now there are hundreds."
Reuters reports:
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, asked in Gaza about the latest Israeli settlement activity, told reporters: "We will inform the whole world that it is destructive to peace."
The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, Mr Nabil Amr, called the granting of the new tenders a fresh obstacle to the peace process.
Mr Amr said the Palestinian cabinet would discuss the latest settlements at its weekly meeting on Friday.