A Palestinian boy looks out of a damaged mosque after it was set ablaze, in the West Bank village of Mghayr, Nov. 12.

RAMALLAH — Israel approved new settler homes in east Jerusalem on Wednesday, despite mounting unrest.

The new settlement construction was announced just hours after suspected Jewish extremists torched a West Bank mosque, in another development likely to inflame tempers in an already heated atmosphere.

Months of unrest have escalated in recent days, spreading from annexed east Jerusalem to the West Bank and Arab communities across Israel, raising Israeli fears of a new Palestinian uprising.

“The settlers set fire to the whole of the first floor of the mosque” in the village of Al-Mughayir, near the Shilo Jewish settlement, Palestinian officials said.

Another mosque in the same village was set ablaze in a similar attack in 2012.

In a separate incident, unknown assailants threw a petrol bomb overnight at an ancient synagogue in Shfaram, a predominantly Muslim and Christian Arab town in northern Israel, police said.

There was small-scale damage and police were investigating.

On Tuesday, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian protester during clashes in the southern West Bank.

With no signs of tensions abating, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was set to arrive in Jordan later Wednesday and have a private dinner with King Abdullah II before meeting with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday.

But so far no meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been scheduled, the U.S. State Department said.

Ahead of Kerry’s arrival, Abdullah took Israel to task by expressing his “total rejection” of its “repeated aggressions and provocations in Jerusalem”, a palace statement said.

Abdullah raised particular concern about tensions at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam, where Jordan has custodial rights.

Abdullah urged global powers to step up peace efforts, warning against “the continuation of Israel’s settlement policies.”

An Israeli committee meanwhile approved plans to build 200 homes in Ramot, a neighborhood of annexed east Jerusalem, despite recent settlement announcements sparking outrage among the Palestinians.

The State Department sharply condemned the plans.

“We are deeply concerned by this decision, particularly given the tense situation in Jerusalem,” said spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

“These decisions to expand construction have the potential to exacerbate this difficult situation on the ground and they will not contribute to efforts to reduce the tension.”

UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded both sides do everything possible “to avoid further exacerbating an already tense environment.”

The tensions come at a time when Palestinian are seeking international recognition for their statehood.

French lawmakers will vote on Nov. 28 on a proposal urging the government to recognize Palestine as a state, a parliamentary source said Wednesday, as diplomatic tensions continue to rise between Europe and Israel.

The non-binding but highly symbolic vote on November 28 was proposed by the ruling Socialist Party, and follows a similar resolution by the British parliament and an official decision to recognise Palestine by the Swedish government.

A draft of the new proposal states that the lower house National Assembly “invites the French government to use the recognition of the state of Palestine as an instrument to gain a definitive resolution of the conflict.”