Israel issued tenders for construction of more than 1,700 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank yesterday, moving ahead with projects opposed by the US and others ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The plots being advertised are in nine settlements in areas Israel says it intends to keep in any peace deal with Palestine. They are part of the 3,500 planned settler homes Israel announced on Wednesday when it released 26 Palestinian prisoners, a government official said.

“The tender bidding process should take between two to three months and contractors could begin to build after about a year,” a Housing Ministry spokesman said about the tenders for 1,729 dwellings published on a government website.

Kerry, who helped revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in July after a three-year break, is now in Cairo on a Middle East visit that will also bring him to Israel and the West Bank.

His meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders are likely to focus on the peace talks, which have shown little sign of progress, and Iran’s nuclear programme.

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