Amman- Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi and Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa on Tuesday rejected Israel's expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem as injurious to the ongoing peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

"We are following up this issue with extreme concern because settlements are going to destroy the present peace process if they have not already destroyed it," Mussa said in remarks to reporters after talks with Dahabi.

"We will not remain silent versus this dangerous situation which changes realities on the ground," he said.

Mussa is visiting Jordan to take part in a conference of Nobel Prize laureates which is due to open in the ancient city of Petra on Wednesday.

"We reject the expansion of Israeli settlements particularly in East Jerusalem because it negatively affects the current peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians," Dahabi said.

They were responding to the Israeli cabinet's approval of building hundreds of new housing units in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day war.

Mussa and Dahabi expressed their backing for efforts under way to hold dialogue between Palestinian Presidnet Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and the radical Hamas group which is in control of the Gaza Strip. (dpa)