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Residents of a new neighbourhood in Revava settlement in the northern West Bank have already brought in cement trucks and bulldozers in anticipation of the end of the freeze, which expires on Sunday night.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has vowed to walk out of peace talks with the Israelis if construction resumes, telling the United Nations on Saturday that "Israel must choose between peace and the continuation of settlements."
But Israel has made it clear the moratorium, enacted under heavy US pressure as a gesture to entice the Palestinians into direct talks, will not be extended.
"Israeli leaders refer to the limited settlement freeze as merely a political bargaining chip, when in fact settlement construction is illegal under the law governing occupation," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
"To Palestinians in the West Bank, the settlements are a major source of daily suffering, which continued settlement expansion would only increase," she added.
Figures quoted by settlement watchdog group Peace Now show the Israeli government has approved plans that would allow settlers to build 13,000 new housing units once the freeze expires.
Ground has already been broken on 2,066 units and another 11,000 have received final government approval.
"We hear repeatedly from Israeli leaders about the ‘natural growth’ needs of Israeli settlers on occupied territory, but not a word about the virtual refusal to accommodate the natural-growth needs of the Palestinians in the area," Whitson said.
"Palestinian families are forced into cramped quarters, and sometimes effectively forced to leave their villages, while they watch nearby settlements expand without limit."
Jewish settlement on occupied Palestinian land is one of the most explosive issues between the two sides, with around 500,000 Israelis living in more than 120 Jewish settlements across the West Bank and east Jerusalem -- territories expected to form the bulk of a future Palestinian state.
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Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has vowed to walk out of peace talks with the Israelis if construction resumes, telling the United Nations on Saturday that "Israel must choose between peace and the continuation of settlements."
But Israel has made it clear the moratorium, enacted under heavy US pressure as a gesture to entice the Palestinians into direct talks, will not be extended.
"Israeli leaders refer to the limited settlement freeze as merely a political bargaining chip, when in fact settlement construction is illegal under the law governing occupation," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
"To Palestinians in the West Bank, the settlements are a major source of daily suffering, which continued settlement expansion would only increase," she added.
Figures quoted by settlement watchdog group Peace Now show the Israeli government has approved plans that would allow settlers to build 13,000 new housing units once the freeze expires.
Ground has already been broken on 2,066 units and another 11,000 have received final government approval.
"We hear repeatedly from Israeli leaders about the ‘natural growth’ needs of Israeli settlers on occupied territory, but not a word about the virtual refusal to accommodate the natural-growth needs of the Palestinians in the area," Whitson said.
"Palestinian families are forced into cramped quarters, and sometimes effectively forced to leave their villages, while they watch nearby settlements expand without limit."
Jewish settlement on occupied Palestinian land is one of the most explosive issues between the two sides, with around 500,000 Israelis living in more than 120 Jewish settlements across the West Bank and east Jerusalem -- territories expected to form the bulk of a future Palestinian state.
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