President Mahmoud Abbas called on Arab representative bodies "to act swiftly, and to take steps... commensurate with this deadly work," referring to Israel's announced plans to build 1,600 new settlement homes in Jerusalem.

Abbas' remarks were in a Palestinian Authority Information Ministry statement released Wednesday, slamming Israel's announcement, calling the move is part of Israel's "entrenched system of extremism."

The president requested that the secretary-general of the Arab League contact the Arab follow-up committee, and plan an immediate intervention with clear steps to counter the Israeli action.

The Arab League had okayed talks with Israel within a four-month window last week, while the Arab Peace Initiative follow-up committee condemned the proposed negotiations in a statement the next day.

The ministry said Israel's continued and expanded occupation of Palestinian areas is "destroying all that would put an end to the conflict in a fair way."

The statement called the Israeli announcement, made Tuesday, "shameless," saying "such acts undermine any hope to reach or achieve peace, and would close any prospect of just solution that the countries of the world intend to achieve and approved by the laws and international legitimacy."