By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA

Turkey on Friday condemned Israel's approval of the construction of hundreds of new Jewish-only housing units in occupied East Jerusalem.

"We condemn Israel’s approval of the construction of 3,000 new settlement units for Jewish settlers mostly on the private properties of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied southern part of East Jerusalem, capital of the State of Palestine," said a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.

It added: "We reject Israel’s steps that disregard international law and relevant UN resolutions."

"Israel is turning its occupation into permanent colonialism by constructing settlement units on Palestinian lands and is thereby eliminating the very foundations of the peace process," the statement said.

Some 600,000 Israeli settlers currently live on more than 100 Jewish-only settlements built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967.

The Palestinians want these areas, along with the Gaza Strip, for the Palestinian state.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land as illegal.