Palestine warns against new Israeli settlement plans after Biden's visit

RAMALLAH, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Sunday warned against Israel's new settlement plans after U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to the region.

Israel's planning and building committee will convene to discuss plans to build 2,000 settlement units southeast of Jerusalem, according to Israeli media reports.

Part of the plans was postponed until after Biden's visit, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, calling it "an ugly Israeli exploitation of the visit to deepen and strengthen settlements."

The statement called on the international community and the U.S. administration "to be vigilant and pay attention to this issue, especially since President Biden called for stopping unilateral measures, foremost of which is settlements."

The issue of Israeli settlements is a prominent aspect of the longstanding Palestinian-Israeli conflict.