Israel's housing and construction ministry said on Sunday it was to publish tenders for the construction of more than 1,000 housing units in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
According to the ministry's website, the tenders are for 500 new units in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Har Homa, and more than 500 in two West Bank settlements - 348 in Beitar Ilit near Bethlehem, and 180 in Givat Ze'ev north-west of Jerusalem.
The tenders were part of a package of nearly 6,000 housing units which are to be built across Israel and the West Bank, the ministry said in a move which was angrily denounced by the Palestinians.
"The Palestinian Authority strongly condemns the Israeli government's decision to build a thousand new housing units in Jerusalem and the West Bank," said negotiator Saeb Erakat. "This new colonial decision by the Israeli government which we condemn undermines efforts to establish peace in the region," said presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina.
Ministry spokesman Ariel Rosenberg told AFP that the new settlement units were being marketed "as a follow-up to the Palestinian (UN membership) bid in September." The Palestinian attempt to seek full state membership at the United Nations has deeply angered Israel, which says such a state can only emerge through bilateral peace negotiations. A month later, after the Palestinians won full membership at the UN cultural organisation UNESCO, Israel vowed to increase its settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, sparking sharp criticism from the international community. Over the past three weeks, Israel has approved the construction of more than 170 new settler homes - 40 in a new enclave near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, 14 in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud and 119 in Shilo settlement north of Ramallah.