US condemns plan by Israel to speed up building of settlements

The Americans joined criticism from others, including Britain, which said earlier in the day that the move was “unhelpful” and “provocative”.

Israel decided on Tuesday to accelerate Jewish settlement building on land the Palestinians want for a state and to withhold Palestinian Authority funds, moves likely to further hold up international efforts to revive long-stalled peace talks.

The Palestinians are looking to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, land Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East War.

“We are deeply disappointed by yesterday’s announcement about accelerated housing construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said last night. “Unilateral actions work against efforts to resume direct negotiations and they do not advance the goal of a reasonable and necessary agreement between the parties.”

Israel’s move came a day after United Nations heritage body Unesco awarded the Palestinians full membership, a diplomatic victory for the Palestinian Authority in its push for statehood recognition.

Israel called the Unesco decision a “tragedy”.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, called Israel’s announcement a serious blow to efforts to restart peace talks.

In a statement, he said: “This settlement building programme is illegal under international law and is the latest in a series of provocative and unhelpful settlement announcements.”

And a French foreign ministry spokesman said the move was a “threat to the two-state solution”.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the decision to expand construction in east Jerusalem, saying that it was Israel’s “right” and “duty” to build in all parts of its capital.

He pledged to keep building in east Jerusalem, adding that the city has never been a capital to any other people.

He said: “We are building in Jerusalem because it is our right and our duty to this generation and future generations, not as punishment but as the basic right of our people to build in its eternal city.

“Jerusalem will never return to the state it was in on the eve of the [1967] Six-Day War, that I promise you.”

The settlement projects announced by Mr Netanyahu were not new, but he ordered they be accelerated. Such projects normally take years to complete because of planning and permit procedures and it was not clear how soon they would begin. Mr Netanyahu stressed all building would take place in areas expected to stay part of Israel under any future peace accord.

The Palestinians demand an end to all construction in Israeli settlements before peace talks can resume. Israel rejects that as a precondition, insisting that the issue of settlements will be resolved when borders are defined through negotiations.

The news sparked an angry response from opponents.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: “Israel has a choice between settlements and peace, between negotiations and dictation, between the past and the future. This government has chosen the past, settlements and dictation.”

Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni also slammed the announcement, saying that Israel should keep certain settlement blocs – but in the framework of a negotiated peace accord.

“The idea that now we have to build more in order to punish the Palestinians is something I cannot understand,” she said.