France Condemned Wednesday the Israeli authorities' approval of a plan to build 1100 housing units in the East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo, saying that this decision could backfire at a time when the international community is increasing its efforts in order to immediately resume negotiations, according to the French Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bernard Valero.

He said that France considers this decision to be provocative, calling on Israel to reconsider it and refrain from any actions that would disrupt the international community's efforts to resume Palestnian-Israeli negotiations.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy, during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, called Israel to refrain from such actions because they pre-judge the final solution, since settlement activities are illegal under international law, whether it is in the West bank or East Jerusalem it undermines the trust and confidence between the two sides and forms a new threat to the two-state solution.