JERUSALEM - Israel's plan to build more than 1,000 new apartments in disputed east Jerusalem is a "declaration of war on the peace process," the Palestinians' top peace negotiator said Wednesday.

Negotiator Ahmed Qureia said the plan, announced Tuesday by Israeli Housing Minister Zeev Boim, would undermine peace talks now under way between Israelis and Palestinians. The sides have said they hope to reach an agreement by the end of the year.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem, which Israel captured and annexed in 1967, as the capital of their future state.

"In a time when everybody is hoping for serious work and credible negotiations to reach a comprehensive and lasting peace agreement, the Israeli leaders came with this dangerous declaration which we consider a declaration of war on our people and their national rights and also a declaration of war on the peace process," Qureia said.

The plan, he said, aimed at "sabotaging and paralyzing any efforts for real work toward real peace in the area."

The Israeli plan calls for the construction of 370 housing units in Har Homa and 750 in Pisgat Zeev, two Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. Israel expects to retain Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, home to 180,000 Israelis, in any peace deal. But the Palestinians say the continued construction undermines the chances of reaching a deal.

Qureia has been meeting regularly with Israel's top negotiator, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, including two meetings this week. But negotiations have appeared to make little progress, marred by Israeli construction in east Jerusalem and by ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.