Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the building of 455 housing units in the West Bank, defying U.S. demands for a freeze on settlement construction.

The Palestinian Authority immediately condemned the move, saying it “undermines the belief that Israel is a credible partner for peace.” A settler leader pledged to fight any move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt further building.

President Barack Obama has demanded a total freeze of West Bank construction, and Palestinians say they won’t resume peace talks with Israel unless building is halted. Netanyahu says construction should be allowed in existing communities, though he’s agreed to rule out new settlements.

The new homes will mostly be in larger settlements close to Jerusalem, including Maale Adumim and Har Gilo, according to an e-mailed statement sent today by the Tel Aviv-based Defense Ministry. Barak also gave permission to open a park for extreme sports in the more distant settlement of Ariel.

“I tend to think that this last bit of construction was coordinated with the Americans,” Ephraim Kam, deputy director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, said in a telephone interview. “They know Netanyahu has domestic political pressures he has to address.”

Jewish settlers, who provide support for Netanyahu and many of his Cabinet ministers, said accepting a freeze on construction would be “catastrophic for the government.”

Ministers’ Support

“We believe most of the ministers support the settlements, and we will try to translate this into political action,” Dani Dayan, head of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, a settler lobby, said at a Jerusalem press conference.

Barak approved construction of 149 housing units in Har Gilo, 89 in Maale Adumim, 84 in Modiin Illit, 76 in Agan Ayalot, 25 in Keidar, 20 in Maskiot and 12 in Alon Shvut, the Defense Ministry said. The decision was announced without comment and spokesmen for Netanyahu also declined to discuss the new construction.

Saeb Erakat, the Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator, accused Israel of bad faith by exploiting a “loophole” in discussions with the U.S. and other international backers of the Middle East peace process over a settlement halt.

“It is now trying to unilaterally redefine a settlement freeze in a way that facilitates rather than stops future settlement construction,” Erakat said in an e-mailed statement sent from his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Peace Prospects

The U.S. is trying to broker a deal in an effort to renew peace talks, which includes steps by Arab states to normalize relations with Israel.

Reacting to reports Sept. 4 that Israel would approve more construction in the West Bank, Amre Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, said such a move would “destroy the peace prospects entirely.”

President Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy George Mitchell is expected to return to Israel for talks with Netanyahu on the settlement issue early next week, according to a government official who declined to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Ferziger in Tel Aviv at jferziger@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 7, 2009 08:40 EDT