France condemns Israeli settlement burst plan

France condemns any attempt by Israel to step up construction activities prior to a complete settlement freeze, saying it would be contrary to the Mideast peace process.

"It is evidently totally contrary to the spirit of the peace process and Israeli engagements and to the dynamic of the peace process," Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier told reporters on Friday. "Our position is without any ambiguity. We condemn it," he stressed.

The remarks follow on the heels of a report earlier in the day which quoted an Israeli official close to Premier Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that the prime minister planned to approve the construction of hundreds of new housing units in Judea and Samaria, which were illegally annexed by Israel after the six-day war in 1967.

The decision comes under mounting international pressure, spearheaded by US President Barack Obama's administration, for a halt to all illegal Israeli settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem (al-Quds).

The news sparked outrage in the Palestinian camp with chief peace negotiator Saeb Erakat denouncing the plan as 'absolutely unacceptable' and a cause for the suspension of the peace process.

At a joint press conference with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Thursday, acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his position on the issue, stressing he would meet with Netanyahu only after the Israeli side proved its commitment to a construction freeze.

Kouchner also said Israel must agree to a construction freeze within disputed Judea and Samaria, warning it would otherwise be 'almost impossible' to renew the stalled peace negotiations.

As the future of the Middle East peace talks remains shrouded in uncertainty over Israel's refusal to heed international calls to stop settlement expansions, the World's Council of Churches on Wednesday warned Israel of the 'dismay or hostility' its policies of expansion and annexation generate.

The statement by the group's Central Committee came a week after its outgoing General Secretary Rev. Samuel Kobia called Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories a 'sin against God'.

The world's largest ecumenical body -- consisting of 349 churches and representing over 560 million Christians in some 110 countries -- also urged a boycott on Israeli settlement products and services so as not to be 'complicit in illegal activities on occupied territory'.