Israel on Wednesday announced plans to build 1,500 new housing settlements on land in East Jerusalem that had been marked by Palestine for a future state. The announcement came just hours after Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners as part of a peace deal—and Israeli officials said the new housing projects would also be included in that peace deal. Palestinians see the settlements in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip—areas captured during the 1967 war—as obstacles to creating the state of Palestine. Israel said the ultra-Orthodox settlement in East Jerusalem, Ramat Shlomo, is part of its Jerusalem municipality.