Israel moves to build 3,000 new settlement homes

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel responded swiftly on Friday to UN recognition of a Palestinian state, revealing it will build 3,000 more homes for Jews on Israeli-occupied lands that the world body overwhelmingly said belong to the Palestinians.

The plans also include future construction in a strategic area of the West Bank where critics have long warned that Jewish settlements would kill hopes for a viable Palestinian state.

Israel's moves served as a harsh reminder to Palestinians - euphoric over the UN upgrade - that while they now have a state on paper, most of it remains very much under Israeli control.

"This is a doomsday scenario," Mr Daniel Seidemann of Ir Amim, a group that promotes coexistence in Jerusalem, said of the building plans.