Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Gideon Saar have agreed to build 1,500 new homes in the east Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo, Israeli army radio said Wednesday.

The early-morning report came shortly after Israel freed 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners alongside U.S.-brokered peace talks.

Israel freed another 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday, alongside US-brokered peace talks.

But shortly after they walked free in a gesture meant to ease the talks' progress, Israeli army radio reported government plans to boost settlement in annexed east Jerusalem.

Israel defended its record before the U.N. Human Rights Council Tuesday, marking an end to its 18-month boycott of the body over scrutiny of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.

"Our record is before you. It is not a perfect record," Israeli ambassador Eviator Manor told the council.

Israel's negotiating position with the Palestinians in U.S.-sponsored peace talks is the toughest it has taken since before the 1993 Oslo Accords, a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday.

"The current Israeli negotiating position is the worst in more than 20 years," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top official with the Palestine Liberation Organization, adding there had been "no tangible progress" in talks that resumed in July after a hiatus of nearly three years.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Iran Monday, a day after the Israeli leader warned Tehran could convert uranium into weapons-grade material within weeks.

The White House said in a short statement that the leaders discussed Iran, Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and other key issues.

Human Rights Watch on Monday praised Israel's decision to resume ties with the U.N.'s rights council, which the Jewish state was boycotting over scrutiny of humanitarian issues in occupied Palestinian territories.

"Israel's decision to end its misguided boycott of the U.N. Human Rights Council is a positive step," the New York-based watchdog's Bill Van Esveld said in a statement.

Israel will attend a U.N. human rights review Tuesday, a top official told Agence France Presse after media reported that Germany had warned of a diplomatic backlash if it stayed away.

"We will attend" the Universal Periodic Review held by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, the official, who declined to be named, said on Sunday.

Israel on Sunday approved the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, the second batch to be freed since August under the terms of renewed U.S.-brokered peace talks.

"The release of 26 prisoners has been validated this evening," said a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

The Israeli foreign ministry has named Middle East specialist Haim Koren as the Jewish state's next ambassador to Egypt, a spokesman told Agence France Presse on Sunday.

He did not say when the appointment take effect.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Iran is capable of converting low-grade uranium to weapons-grade within weeks.

"Iran is prepared to give up enriching uranium to 20 percent and therefore debate on this subject is unimportant," Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying at a weekly meeting of his cabinet.