Britain Summons Israeli Ambassador over New Settlements

Britain summoned the Israeli ambassador to London to the Foreign Office on Thursday over plans to build more than 1,800 new settler homes, a spokesman said.

Israel unveiled the proposals on Friday in a move the Palestinians said was aimed at forcing the United States to abandon its push towards Middle East peace.

"The Israeli ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office on 16 January over the Israeli government's recent decision to announce new settlement tenders in East Jerusalem and the West Bank," a Foreign Office spokesman told Agence France Presse.

Foreign Office Permanent Under-Secretary Simon Fraser "made clear that settlement announcements had a detrimental impact on an atmosphere conducive to productive talks. The UK urged Israel to refrain from further such announcements."

Israel said it planned to build 1,076 units in annexed east Jerusalem and 801 in the occupied West Bank, a week after US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the region.

Fraser told the Israeli envoy that the current Middle East peace talks were a "unique opportunity to end the conflict once and for all."