Israel’s government has approved 28 new schools for settlements in the West Bank, a day after it announced a 10-month halt to new residential building.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said construction would completed before the beginning of the 2010-11 school year.

Settlers have been angered by the decision to limit building, although the Palestinians say it is not enough.

They refuse to restart peace talks without a total freeze and are angry the policy does not include Jerusalem.

Under the Israeli new policy, backed by the security cabinet on Wednesday, permits for new homes in the West Bank will not be approved for 10 months. But municipal buildings and hundreds of houses already under construction will still be allowed to go ahead.

The Palestinian Authority and some members of the international community, including Russia and the UK, want Israel to go further and include East Jerusalem. However, Israel does not consider Jerusalem occupied territory.

Nevertheless, right-wing Israeli leaders have been angered by what they see as capitulation by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, and vowed to keep building.

The chairman of the settler group, the Yesha Council, Danny Dayan said on Wednesday that Mr Netanyahu had “betrayed the very principles for which he stood for all his life”.