The United States will financially penalize Israel for any construction in the West Bank and Gaza.
The decision was announced by the Bush Administration on Monday.
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
The news came on the day the nine-billion-dollar American loan guarantees for Israel came into force.
The U.S. says it will reduce the size of the guarantees if Israel builds in the areas.
It is unclear at this stage whether the construction of the security buffer will be included in the penalties.
Jerusalem says it intends completing the buffer between Israeli and Palestinian cities within 16 months.