Turkey has condemned an Israeli plan to construct 283 new homes in Palestine's West Bank. "Israel's illegal settlement units are totally unacceptable," read a statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Friday. Israel issued tenders on Friday for 283 new housing units, according to the Israel Land Authority.

As our tour bus full of Christian pilgrims rolls out of Jerusalem, the Jewish guide reads a poetic description of the Israeli settlement Itamar, a place where, we are told, the fields are carpeted in scarlet poppies and blue pansies and the deer “run free … and skip from hill to dale.” Mid-poem, a woman snaps a photo of the Israeli-built cement separation wall just before we cross a checkpoint into the West Bank. Now we’re heading into the heart of the land where Palestinians want to build a state and Israeli settlers want to build Greater Israel.

The second round of US-brokered Mideast peace talks will be held next week, the State Department said Thursday, even as the Palestinians protested new Israeli settlement activity. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Israel's latest settlement announcements were an indication of "Israel's bad faith and lack of seriousness" in the talks.