Russia calls on Israel to abandon new settlement plans

Moscow is deeply concerned over Israel's new settlement plans in East Jerusalem and calls on Israel to abandon them, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. "We call on the Israeli government to abandon plans to continue settlement activity in the occupied territories and abstain from steps, which (unilaterally) define the status of Jerusalem and the borders of the future Palestinian state," the ministry said. It noted such moves "run contrary to Israel's obligations under the internationally agreed road map," adding the issues mentioned above should be determined by negotiations. "We are especially concerned by the fact that such moves can have an extremely negative impact on the efforts of the international community, including the Middle East Quartet, to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace talks," the ministry said. According to media reports, Israel is planning to build 2,610 new units in an Israeli settlement in Jerusalem. On Sept. 27, Israel approved the construction of 1,100 homes in the Jewish settlement of Gilo on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The move came just a few days after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas officially applied for a full UN membership for Palestine.