US State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley said on Monday that Israel remains a strategic ally of the US, despite a dispute over Israeli plans to expand its settlements.

Israel sparked a diplomatic row with the US last week after it announced during an official visit to the country by US Vice President Joe Biden that 1,600 new settlement housing units would be built in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem.

"Our commitment to Israel's security remains unshakeable,” Crowley said, but added that there is a “specific area of concern.” 

-AFP/NOW Lebanon