Israel approves 799 new housing units in West Bank

The Civil Administration, the Israeli body governing the occupied West Bank territories, approved on Sunday the construction of 799 new housing units in West Bank settlements, the Ha'aretz daily reported. The approval comes a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the housing ministry to halt plans for the construction of more than 20,000 housing units in West Bank and East Jerusalem. Out of the total, 409 housing units will be built in the Givat Ze'ev settlement north of Jerusalem. Some of the housing units will be built in Nofei Prat, not far from Jericho, in the West Bank. Thirty of them are to be built in Shiloh, also north of Jerusalem. Netanyahu's decision to call off more than 20,000 planned housing units on lands Israel annexed during the 1967 Mideast War came as tensions mounted in the negotiations with the Palestinians and fearing a backlash from the international community which condemns the expansion of the settlements. The approval on Sunday also comes a day after Iran signed a deal with world leaders regarding its nuclear plan. According to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, while speaking with the Housing Minister last week, Netanyahu explained that an unnecessary confrontation with the international community would sabotage Israel's efforts to persuade countries to reach a "better deal with Iran."