Israel seeks bids for hundreds more Jerusalem settler homes

JERUSALEM: Israel has invited tenders for the building of hundreds of more homes in Jewish settlements in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, the media said on Sunday.

In all, the housing ministry sought bids for the construction of 692 new homes in the settlements of Neve Yaacov, Pisgat Zeev and Har Homa, among a dozen that ring the city, the channel said.

East Jerusalem settlements already house some 200,000 Jewish settlers alongside its 270,000 Palestinian residents.

Israel's continued expansion of settlements is one of the biggest obstacles to the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, now suspended for a year.

Israel, which captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community, insists the whole city is its "eternal, indivisible" capital.

The Palestinians are determined to make the city's eastern sector the capital of their promised state, a goal endorsed earlier this month by the European Union.

On November 16, Israel gave its apporval for 900 new housing units in a fourth east Jerusalem settlement -- Gilo -- in a move that drew a strong rebuke from its US ally.

"We are dismayed at the Jerusalem planning committee's decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at the time.

"At a time when we are working to relaunch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed."