Barak approves new West Bank settlements

JERUSALEM, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- The construction of new Jewish housing in the West Bank has been approved by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ahead of a planned freeze, officials said.

Barak Sunday approved the construction of 455 housing units in five settlement blocs, Ynetnews.com reported. The Web site noted the plans were not new, but had merely been put on hold while the Defense Ministry grappled with opposition to the move.

The planned post-construction freeze would somehow be overcome, promised Danny Dayan, chairman of the pro-settlement group the Yesha Council.

"You can't freeze a living body," Dayan told Ynet. "What will happen now is an increase in activity on the ground. The settlements will not sustain a freeze."

Jerusalem's dual moves of giving the go-ahead to new unit and promising a freeze is a "slight of hand trick" by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni declared Sunday.

"We have a government here that, as days go by it becomes clear that not only does it not have a path, but the prices it pays are the highest of all," she told the Web site.