Palestinian labourers work on a construction site in Ramat Shlomo, a religious Jewish settlement in an area of the occupied West Bank Israel annexed to Jerusalem October 30, 2013. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered officials on Wednesday to press ahead with plans to build 3,500 more homes for Jewish settlers, hours after Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners as part of U.S.-brokered peace efforts.
Netanyahu's step was seen as a way to placate hardliners who criticized him as the inmates, convicted of killing Israelis, basked in a heroes' welcome from hundreds of relatives and well-wishers in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
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