Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled plans to build 20,000 new settler homes in the West Bank following US and Palestinian criticism.
A statement from Netanyahu's office says the Israeli PM ordered Housing Minister Uri Ariel "to reconsider all of the steps for evaluating planning potential that he distributed without any advance coordination."
Netanyahu told Ariel the plan was legally "meaningless" and "an action that creates an unnecessary confrontation with the international community at a time when we are making an effort to persuade elements in the international community to reach a better deal with Iran." The order came after Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas warned the construction, announced earlier Tuesday by Ariel's ministry, would prompt him to declare the peace process over.
Washington expressed "deep concern" at the move, which threatened to add to the 550,000 Israeli settlers already living in the occupied West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
Netanyahu made it clear the housing ministry's call for tenders threatened to distract from his efforts to convince world powers to not sign a deal with Iran over its nuclear program.
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"The attention of the international community must not be diverted from the main effort - preventing Iran from receiving an agreement that will allow it to continue its military nuclear program," Netanyahu said in the statement.
Iran and the powers with whom it is negotiating came close last weekend to agreeing to a preliminary accord, opening the way to a more comprehensive pact.
Differences prevented a breakthrough and the sides are scheduled to meet again in Geneva on November 20.
Netanyahu has furiously denounced the agreement being worked on as "dangerous", claiming it is entirely in Iran's favour and does nothing to halt a nuclear program he and others fear is aimed at developing atomic weapons.
He has said Israel will not shy from military action on Iran to prevent any nuclear threat directed at it.
