Israel announced the acceleration of 1,000 new Jewish-only housing units in East Jerusalem yesterday in a further snub to the peace process.

The zionist state has illegally annexed the eastern half of the city and is gradually carrying out an ethnic cleansing process there.

But almost all other countries — including Israel’s primary international sponsor the United States — maintain that East Jerusalem is Palestinian territory and the future capital of a state of Palestine.

Even the Israeli Cabinet appeared divided on yesterday’s announcement, with Finance Minister Yair Lapid fearing “a serious crisis in Israel-US relations” and damage to “Israel’s standing in the world.”

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a deliberately provocative stance, telling parliament yesterday that “the French build in Paris, the English build in London and the Israelis build in Jerusalem.”

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah emphasised the significance of the eastern part of the city for his people with a visit to the Dome of the Rock, one of the holiest sites in Islam.

“There will not be a Palestinian state without East Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.

And Fatah leader Jibril Rajoub said “unilateral acts” such as the housing expansion “will lead to an explosion.

“Netanyahu should not expect a white flag from the Palestinian people,” he warned.

Israel is also planning further illegal settlement in the West Bank after a Sunday night meeting at which far-right Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett threatened to leave Mr Netanyahu’s government if the colonisation of Palestine was not sped up.