JERUSALEM: Israel pushed forward Wednesday with plans for more than 550 new homes in three settlement neighborhoods of annexed east Jerusalem, the city council said.

In a move likely to escalate tensions between Israel and the Palestinians as they hold US-backed peace talks, the council said it had granted private contractors permits to build 386 units in Har Homa, 136 units in Neve Yaakov and 36 units in Pisgat Zeev.

Issuing permits is one of the last stages before construction begins, with building likely to start in the coming weeks, the Israeli Peace Now settlement watchdog said.

“We are talking about building permits, which is really the final stage,” Peace Now spokesman Lior Amihai told AFP.

“It’s a shameful decision at a shameful time. A government that wants a two-state solution would not issue those amount of permits for east Jerusalem neighborhoods. “

“Israel is engaging in the deliberate provocation of the Palestinians to drive them to leave the negotiations in protest of Israeli violations, and therefore should be blamed for the destruction of the peace process,” senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement.

According to figures from Peace Now, in the six months since the talks began on July 29, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu advanced plans for 7,302 new homes, including 4,880 in the West Bank and 2,422 in east Jerusalem.

Ashrawi also condemned the recent demolition of four Palestinian homes in two east Jerusalem neighborhoods, which left 20 people homeless.