TEL AVIV, January 15, 2007 (WAFA)- The Israeli daily Haaretz revealed that Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing published on Monday a tender for the construction of 44 new housing units in the colony of Ma'aleh Adumim.

The daily said that the Peace Now group condemned the tender, pointing out that in the course of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Israel, the state is tearing to shreds its own obligations under the Road Map.

Washington, which traditionally opposed all colonisation activity in the territories as an "obstacle to peace," according to the daily.

Most of the tenders for the construction of housing units released by Israel in the past year are for West Bank communities.

In the last September, the Ministry published a tender for the construction of 69 new housing units in the colonies of Bitar A'lit and Ma'aleh Adumim.

M.H.(11:40 P)(09:40 GMT) .