The Palestinian leadership on Friday condemned the Israeli government’s decision to build new Jewish settlements a day after the Palestinians upgraded their UN status to a non-member state.

“This is a slap to the whole world which voted in favor of the Palestinian state,” said Nabil Abu Rdineh, spokesperson for the Palestinian presidency. “These are illegitimate and illegal acts,” he said in remarks published on Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.

Israel approved the building of 3,000 homes in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the lands that together with Gaza Strip make the Palestinian state, which won a UN vote of 138- 9 a day earlier.

“These acts put Israel in a big isolation after the world rejected the occupation Thursday by its recognition of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders,” Abu Rdineh added.

Settlement activities brought peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians to a halt in 2010. The Palestinian leadership decided then to appeal to the UN for a state recognition despite U. S. opposition.

 Xinhua