The European Union's foreign-policy chief is "extremely concerned" by newly-published Israeli plans to build over 1,300 homes on Palestinian land, officials in Brussels said Tuesday.
The announcement of the plans to build 1,345 housing units in occupied East Jerusalem has triggered a war of words between Israelis and Palestinians and brought the fragile process of peace talks to the brink of collapse, DPA reported.
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton is "extremely concerned by the announcement by Israel of a plan for the construction of 1,300 new housing units in East Jerusalem. This plan contradicts the efforts by the international community to resume direct negotiations and the decision should be reversed," a statement said.
The EU has long maintained that it is against international law for Israel to build settlements on territory which it seized during the Six-Day War of 1967.
However, the bloc has little influence over Israeli government policy.