The announcement made by the Zionist entity about plans to build 1,500 new settlements in occupied east Jerusalem after freeing 26 Palestinian prisoners is destroying the peace process.

The announcement made by the Zionist entity about plans to build 1,500 new settlements in occupied east Jerusalem after freeing 26 Palestinian prisoners is destroying the peace process, the Palestinian Authority said Wednesday.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said the move "destroys the peace process and is a message to the international community that Israel is a country that does not respect international law".

And a statement from the presidency said it "leads the Palestinian and Arab parties to lose confidence that this (Israeli) government will make peace," the official WAMA news agency reported.

"All settler activities are illegal and no settlement will remain on Palestinian soil," it added.

Earlier, a senior official told AFP that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Gideon Saar had "agreed on four building plans in Jerusalem."

The announcement was timed to trump headlines focusing on the celebrations in the West Bank and Gaza after the prisoners walked free into their respective home territories shortly after 1:00 am (2300 GMT).

In the West Bank, thousands of cheering people turned out to welcome home the 21 prisoners, who were tasting freedom for the first time in 20 years or more, in a formal ceremony at Abbas's presidential compound in Ramallah.