EILAT, Israel -- Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resumed Sunday in this Red Sea resort amid bitter Palestinian protests over the disclosure that Israel intends to build 174 new homes in a Jewish settlement on the West Bank.
A trust-building gesture planned by Prime Minister Ehud Barak -- handing over Arab suburbs of Jerusalem to the Palestinians -- was in doubt as hawkish Israeli Cabinet ministers said they would oppose it. Barak had hoped the handover wouldshow that Israel is serious about the talks.
Despite the tension, negotiators ended the day's session with a group splash in the hotel pool.
U.S. Mideast envoy Dennis Ross was to join the negotiators Tuesday, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was to visit the region in six to eight weeks to push along the lagging talks.
The negotiations are aimed at achieving a framework for a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians, along with agreement on the scale and location of the third and final troop withdrawal that Israel has promised to make. Negotiators are to remain secluded in a hotel until a recess on Tuesday to mark Israel's national day of mourning for victims of the Holocaust.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo opened the talks Sunday evening with a statement expressing his displeasure at learning Sunday that Barak had authorized the expansion of Maale Adumim, the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
"Actions like this gravely harm the current negotiations," Abed Rabbo said.
Speaking briefly to reporters in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said the expansion violated peace accords.
The opening of the talks was delayed five hours while the Palestinians lodged a protest over the expansion.
Abed Rabbo said the negotiations could not be successful unless Israel gave an "expeditious and appropriate" response to his request to halt the expansion.
After less than two hours, talks broke for the evening and Israeli and Palestinian negotiators left the tense atmosphere for a swim together in the hotel's outdoor pool. Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan got a lesson in underwater relaxation techniques while Israeli negotiator Oded Eran and Abed Rabbo practiced their strokes. The talks were to resume Monday morning.
On another matter, the Palestinian negotiators gave a tepid response to Barak's plan to hand over three Palestinian villages just outside Jerusalem as a goodwill gesture or "down payment" on the permanent peace agreement.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he and his colleagues had learned about the proposal from the Israeli media, not the Israeli government.
Barak defended the proposed handover, noting that the villages were already under Palestinian civilian control.
"This does not weaken Jerusalem," he said of the plan in which the Palestinians would assume security control of the villages.