Israel says it will speed up Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - and temporarily freeze the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority.

以色列将加速约旦河西岸和东耶路撒冷的居民点建设计划，并临时冻结给巴勒斯坦当局的拨款。

The announcement comes a day after the Palestinians won full membership of the UN cultural organisation¹, Unesco.

Palestinian Authoirty President Mahmoud Abbas says the move will speed up the destruction of the peace process.

The Israeli government has described the Unesco vote as a "tragedy".

A spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry², Yigal Palmor, told the BBC the measures were designed to increase pressure on the Palestinians.

Mr Palmor said they were "a response to unilateral（单边的） measures aimed at confronting Israel at the UN and elsewhere on the international scene".

"They [the Palestinians] shouldn't be wasting time by all these manoeuvres（策略） . They should continue to negotiate," he said.

The Israeli government said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called for the accelerated construction of about 2,000 housing units.

It said the construction will be in "areas that in any future arrangement will remain in Israel's hands", according to a statement quoted by Reuters news agency.

The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says the announcement will be seen as a punishment for the Palestinians and a warning to countries that backed their Unesco bid that Israel will react strongly if a similar application for Palestinian membership of the UN itself should prove successful.

Peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down more than a year ago. The Palestinians are demanding an end to settlement building.

Almost 500,000 Jews live in settlements on occupied territory. The settlements are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.