US Vice President Joe Biden has repeated his condemnation of Israel's decision to authorise new housing units for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem.
Mr Biden was speaking after meeting the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank.
Mr Abbas also said the approval of another 1,600 homes in occupied East Jerusalem threatened the peace process and demanded the plans be scrapped.
Mr Biden's visit to the region comes shortly before the expected start of indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, negotiated by the Americans.
The talks are a bid to restart the peace process, which has been stalled for 17 months, the BBC reports.
It says the Israeli settlement announcement has cast a shadow on those talks, with the Palestinian Authority saying the approval showed Israel believed US negotiation efforts had failed before they had even begun.
