South Africa's foreign ministry has summoned Israel's ambassador in protest against his government's decision to build 3,000 new settlement homes on the West Bank, a senior diplomat said Thursday.

"We felt we had to do this to show how concerned we are about this," said deputy minister of international relations Ebrahim Ebrahim.

Thieves have made off with several US-made engines for F-16 warplanes worth millions of dollars from an airbase in central Israel, army radio reported on Thursday.

Israel's Walla Internet site said preliminary findings after an investigation by military police indicated there may have been collusion between the thieves and personnel, either military or civilian, at the base.

A mortar shell fired from war-torn Syria slammed into the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Wednesday without causing any casualties or damage, the Israeli army said.

"A shell fired during fighting in Syria landed by mistake on the center of the Golan plateau," an Israeli army spokeswoman said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday applauded the Czech Republic for its "friendship and courage" as the only European state to have opposed Palestine's status upgrade at the United Nations.

Prague joined allies Israel, the United States and Canada in opposing the Palestinian status bid. The U.N. General Assembly on Thursday approved non-member observer status for Palestine by an overwhelming vote of 138 against nine, with 41 abstentions.

An Israeli plan to build new settler homes in a sensitive area near Jerusalem passed a first hurdle Wednesday, sparking fury from the Palestinians, who said building there would end all hopes of peace.

Israel's plan for construction in a strip of West Bank land outside Jerusalem called E1 has sparked a major diplomatic backlash, with experts warning it could wipe out hopes of establishing a viable Palestinian state.

Israeli plans to build new settler homes near Jerusalem, which have triggered a diplomatic outcry, were presented Wednesday to a planning committee in their first step forward in seven years, an official said.

Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the proposal to build at least 3,000 new homes, including in a corridor of West Bank land where observers say construction could wipe out hopes of establishing a viable Palestinian state.

Cypriot Speaker Yiannakis Omirou stressed on Wednesday stressed on importance of cooperation between his country and Lebanon concerning the exploration of offshore natural resources.

“I have discussed with Lebanese officials means of cooperation between our two countries, in particular, the exploration of gas resources in our Exclusive Economic Zones,” Omirou told reporters at the airport before heading back to Cyprus.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday Israel is closely tracking developments relating to chemical weapons in Syria, whose regime has been warned against using them in the country's uprising.

"Along with the international community, we are closely following developments in Syria related to its chemical weapons stockpiles," Netanyahu said in a statement from his office.

Egypt's foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned Israel's ambassador to Cairo, Yaakov Amitai, to issue a "strong protest" over the Jewish state's plans for new settlements, a ministry spokesman said.

Alaa Eldine Yussef, who heads the Israeli affairs section at the ministry, told the envoy that "the Israeli government's plan contradicts the concept of land for peace, on which peace efforts in the region are built," spokesman Amr Roshdy said.

The European Union is unlikely to use trade sanctions to punish Israel over its plans to build new settlements, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Tuesday.

Hague repeated his condemnation of the "illegal" settlements on occupied Palestinian territory and urged Israeli politicians to "listen very carefully" to international diplomatic pressure on the issue.