(CNN) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday said Israel's plans to build 1,300 new homes in East Jerusalem were "simply not helpful" to peace efforts in the region.
Israel is under pressure to dismantle East Jerusalem outposts like this one in Maaleh Hazeitim, seen in April.
Israel announced plans for the new settlement Friday, bringing the total new homes planned in the area to more than 3,000.
Palestinians say the settlement would be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
"We've said before that this is a time to try and build confidence, and this is simply not helpful to building confidence," Rice said on a plane trip to Tel Aviv from Paris, where she took part in a conference on aid to Afghanistan. "It will certainly be a topic of conversation, and I expect to raise it with all of Israel's officials and leaders."
Rice plans to meet with leaders in Jerusalem and Ramallah this week on the progress of U.S.-backed plans for the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.
Earlier this month, the White House and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized an Israeli plan to build an 800-home settlement in East Jerusalem. And in March, officials in Jerusalem announced another 600-home settlement as part of an initiative to add 40,000 new homes to the city.
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Rice said Israel's repeated announcements of settlement plans in the area prove that the process of creating clear and universally recognized boundaries in the region is important.
"It gives us every reason that we really ought to be determining the boundaries of the state, because what's in Israel will be in Israel, at that point, and what's in Palestine will be in Palestine," she said.
"We've talked a great deal about road map obligations, and this one isn't being met."
As part of a 2003 "road map" peace agreement, Israel agreed not to build on disputed lands.
Israel says it is not violating the agreement because most of the new settlement would be on land it has already annexed.
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