JERUSALEM — Jewish settlers have established a new West Bank community and expanded an existing one, drawing a protest yesterday from Palestinian Arab leaders who say the activity is hindering peace talks with Israel.

Israeli officials said both initiatives are illegal and undermine Prime Minister Olmert’s pledge to President Bush and the Palestinian Arabs for a freeze on most settlement activity. But it was unclear whether Mr. Olmert’s government would evict the 37 Jewish families involved.

In one case, 27 prefabricated homes have been assembled in Eli, a settlement about 10 miles north of Ramallah, and are being connected to the community’s water and power lines. The activity began last month and was first reported yesterday in the newspaper Ha’aretz.

Jews have occupied another 10 homes in Maskiot in the Jordan Valley, Israel’s Channel 1 television reported last week. More than a year ago, Israel had approved, and then revoked, plans to build 30 homes there, but construction went ahead in recent weeks without government approval. Palestinian Arabs seek the entire West Bank for an independent state and are demanding the removal of all Jewish settlements, whose existence most countries consider a violation of international law.

The new settler activity is far from Jerusalem, where Mr. Olmert is permitting new housing construction in East Jerusalem and nearby West Bank settlements that Israel expects to keep under a final peace accord.

With the exception of those sites, the Israeli leader “clearly reiterates his principles: No new settlements, no outward expansion of existing settlements,” his spokesman, Mark Regev, said yesterday. Captain Tzidki Maman, a spokesman for the Israeli military’s Civil Administration in the West Bank, said it was “examining” ways to deal with the unauthorized construction in Eli and had issued orders to tear down the illegally built homes in Maskiot. But he added that any move to evict settlers would depend on a political decision from the Israeli leadership.