Saudi: Israel's arrogance challenges the world

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday condemned Israel's "arrogant" policies of building settlements in east Jerusalem, saying they violated the rights of Arabs and Muslims and cast doubt on its seriousness in peace negotiations.

In a strongly worded statement carried by the official news agency, a government official asked the Quartet sponsoring peace talks, consisting the U.S., EU, Russia and the U.N., to take Israel to task for its recent announcements to expand Jewish housing in east Jerusalem.

"Saudi Arabia is looking for explanations from the international Quartet for these arrogant Israeli policies and the insistence on challenging the international community," the official said. "These comments cast doubt on the peace process and the seriousness of the international efforts to relaunch negotiations."

Palestinians want east Jerusalem, annexed by Israel in 1967, as their future capital and see new settlement construction as land grabs. Israel insists the city cannot be divided and says it has the right to build anywhere.

The statement criticized Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for saying during his trip to Washington that settlement construction in Jerusalem would not be halted. He said Israel does not consider Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to be settlements. About 180,000 Israelis live there.

"The kingdom strongly condemns the statements by the prime minister of the Israeli occupation in which he denied the rights of Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims in holy Jerusalem, without the slightest consideration for the legitimate rights of the Palestinians, especially in occupied holy Jerusalem, or for the international efforts to relaunch peace process," the statement said.

Netanyahu's comments came during a spat between the U.S. and Israel over its settlement construction as Washington is pressing to restart peace talks.

Israeli officials announced the construction of 1,600 new apartments in east Jerusalem during the visit of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to Israel.

The Saudi statement said the timing was "surprising and astonishing."

On Wednesday, Israel's Jerusalem municipality approved 20 new apartments for Jews on land bought by an American Jewish millionaire in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem while Netanyahu is in Washington on a fence-mending visit.

Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, had initially backed efforts to start indirect U.S.-mediated talks, but there has been widespread outrage over the announcements of new construction.