The South African government on Thursday summoned the Israeli Ambassador to express concerns over Israel's move to build 3,000 jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, a senior government official said.

"This morning the Department (of International Relations and Cooperation) summoned the Israeli Ambassador (Dov Segev-Steinberg) to express the concerns," Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ebrahim Ebrahim said at a routine briefing on international relations matters.

"We felt we had to do this to show how concerned we are about this," said Ebrahim.

He warned that any further construction of settlements would seriously undermine the two-state solution by isolating East Jerusalem, the future capital of Palestine, and by threatening the viability and territorial contiguity of the future Palestinian State.

On Wednesday, the South African Government released a statement condemning Israel's decision to build 3,000 new settlement homes in the so-called E1 area of the West Bank.

"The South African Government is also extremely concerned at the Israeli Government's announcement to withhold 100 million dollars of Palestinian tax revenue. These punitive measures will have severe consequences for the Palestinian population as a whole, " Ebrahim stated.

South Africa has called on the international community to redouble its efforts aimed at a permanent and sustainable political solution, namely the implementation of a viable two- state solution providing for the establishment of a Palestinian state, existing side by side in peace and security with Israel within internationally recognized borders, based on those existing on June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, Ebrahim said.