(VOVworld) - The US strongly criticized Israel on Wednesday over Israel’s plans to build a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank and said that they would damage prospects for peace with the Palestinians and undermine a two-state solution.

A residential area of Jewish people in Hebron, West Bank. (File photo: AFP/VNA)

In a statement, the US State Department said Israel’s approval of the construction of 300 houses in the West Bank will be the next step to consolidate its eternal occupation of Palestinians land.

The State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the illegal decision was contradictory to the earlier announcement by the Israeli government that they had no intention of building new residential areas.  

He noted that the proposed new settlement would be closer to Jordan than Israel and link a string of Jewish outposts, dividing the Palestinian region.

Israel rejected the US criticism and affirmed that the plan was not for a new residential area. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the new houses will be built in the Shilo settlement area and would not change the border in the region.