Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    JERUSALEM, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli municipal officials have endorsed a plan to built over one thousand new houses for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem, local daily Ha'aretz reported Friday.

    The green light for the construction of 1,300 houses in Ramat Shlomo, a neighborhood in the northern part of Jerusalem, was given on Tuesday by the Jerusalem urban planning commission, said the report, adding that it is one of the most ambitious expansion plans for settler homes in east Jerusalem.

    About 2,000 homes have already been built for Jewish settlers in the same neighborhood, according to the report, though the Palestinians and international community have repeatedly condemned such expansion activities by the Jewish state in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

    "We firmly condemn this project which reveals the Israeli government's intention to destroy peace," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told reporters, responding to the decision. "The international community must make Israel stop its settlement activity if it wants to give peace negotiations a chance."

    Earlier this month, Israeli Housing Ministry also announced plans to construct 884 new houses in east Jerusalem, a part of the Holy City Israel captured during the 1967 Six Day War and later incorporated into the municipal borders of Jerusalem in an act not recognized internationally.

    The municipal decision went public a day before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive in Israel for a two-day visit to give another push for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which has seen little progress since the two sides pledged last November to strike a comprehensive peace deal within 2008, with the settlements issue being one of the central points of conflict.