Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said that construction of settlements, which largely angers Palestinians, would not be stopped.

Olmert arrived in Japan on Monday for a three-day visit.

In a Japanese television interview broadcast on Monday, Olmert expressed his unwillingness to freeze construction of new homes amid the latest development in an East al-Quds settlement.

"First of all it is difficult (to stop construction) because you are talking about living entities," Olmert told broadcaster NHK before his departure for Tokyo.

"You are talking about people living there. They need to live; they need to express their desire to live. They have children, they want to get married, they want to have homes," AFP quoted Olmert as saying.

The Zionist regime began constructing 66 new homes last month in Maaleh Hazeitim, the Ras al-Amud area of East al-Quds which Israel occupied and annexed in the 1967 war and which Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.

The development comes as the Zionist regime and the Palestinians are engaged in peace talks aimed at solving the thorniest issues of the Middle East conflict, including the future status of al-Quds.

MSH/BGH