Israel Intel Minister Urges Coordinated Settler Building

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz on Wednesday urged "coordinated" settlement building, a day after a new plan for settler homes in the West Bank drew international condemnation.

"The prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) is right when he says that at such a sensitive time, while we're trying to persuade the Americans, Europeans and Russians to amend a problematic deal with Iran, things must be coordinated with the prime minister," Steinitz told Israeli public radio.

Settlements in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and the West Bank "must be done in an intelligent and coordinated way," said Steinitz.

Netanyahu late Tuesday canceled plans to build 20,000 new settler homes in the West Bank, hours after their announcement sparked U.S. and Palestinian criticism.

State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki had said Washington was not only concerned by the initial announcement, but also "surprised" and sought an explanation from Israel.

She repeated the longstanding U.S. position on settlements that "we do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity".

Netanyahu then ordered Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel "to reconsider all of the steps for evaluating planning potential (for the settler homes) that he distributed without any advance coordination," the premier's office said.

Netanyahu told Ariel the plan was "meaningless" legally -- "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.

"At this time, 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," he was quoted as saying.

Iran and the world powers it is negotiating with over its nuclear program came close last weekend to agreeing a preliminary accord opening the way to a more comprehensive pact.

Netanyahu has furiously denounced the agreement being worked on as "dangerous" claiming it is entirely in Iran's favor and does nothing to halt a nuclear program he and the world powers fear is aimed at developing atomic weapons.