Israeli plans unveiled Friday to build over 1,800 settler homes are a signal to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry not to pursue his peace push, a top Palestinian negotiator said.

"The new settlement construction plan is a message from (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to Kerry not to come back to the region to continue his efforts in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks," Saeb Erakat told AFP.

More than 10,000 African asylum seekers rallied outside Israel's parliament in Jerusalem Wednesday, police said, in a fourth straight day of protests against immigration policy.

The demonstration was "calm," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that police were deployed to keep order. He put the number of protesters at "more than 10,000".

Thousands of African asylum seekers demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Tuesday for a third straight day of protests against Israel's immigration policies.

Migrants, most of them fleeing Eritrea or Sudan, held banners that read "We are refugees," and "No more prison," as they marched on Western embassies and the offices of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR).

After four days of intense diplomacy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry headed home Monday, insisting progress had been made despite failing to agree a framework to guide Israeli-Palestinian talks.

On his 10th visit to the region as U.S. top diplomat, Kerry spent hours locked in separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Palestinian leaders Sunday of "inciting hatred," as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the region to push peace talks forward.

"The Palestinians are continuing their campaign of inciting hatred, as we have seen in the last few days with their refusal to recognize Israel as a state for the Jewish people," Netanyahu told a weekly cabinet meeting.

Israel rejects any U.S.-proposed security concessions for the Jordan Valley, a cabinet member close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, as U.S. Secretary John Kerry visited the Middle East.

"Security must remain in our hands. Anyone who proposes a solution in the Jordan Valley by deploying an international force, Palestinian police or technological means ... does not understand the Middle East," Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israeli public radio.

Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday rejected Israeli and Palestinian remarks the U.S. was biased as he made a whistlestop tour of allies Jordan and Saudi Arabia to woo support for his peace plan.

Kerry promised any agreed plan would be "fair and balanced" and likened his efforts to broker a compromise between the conflicting demands of the two sides to a puzzle.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was Saturday seeking to brush aside bitter recriminations and push forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on a third day of shuttle diplomacy.

After five months of mostly sticking to a deal not to air their grievances in public, the mutual distrust between the sides has burst into the open with the top U.S. diplomat's 10th trip back to Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry launched a second day of talks with Israelis and Palestinians Friday, seeking to hammer out a framework to guide negotiations towards a peace deal.

American officials have privately said they believe the direct talks resumed in July after a three-year hiatus have reached a new phase, as an April deadline for an accord looms, but are struggling to overcome fierce opposition from both sides to any compromises.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday as he pushed a framework for Middle East peace talks, amid growing tension with the Palestinians.

The two met in Jerusalem, launching what is expected to be an intense four days of shuttle diplomacy between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.