Tel Aviv, 19 Aug-(ANA)-Israel's government has stopped issuing settler housing tenders in the West Bank, hoping to reach common ground with the US, a senior minister says.
The US administration has been putting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under pressure to freeze all settlement work, which has strained normally close ties.
"There is no freeze, there is a waiting period," said Housing Minster Ariel Atias in an Israeli radio interview.
But anti-settlement groups say work in settlements has in fact increased.
Asked about the statement that no new settler housing tenders were being issued, US President Barack Obama said there had been "movement in the right direction".
Speaking after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Washington, Mr Obama said he had been encouraged by reports of checkpoints being removed and increased economic activity in the West Bank.
"But everybody is going to have to take steps, everybody is going to have to take some risks," he added.
UK/Houthis