TEL AVIV, July 14, 2008, (WAFA)- Israel has approved the construction of 25 factories in a Jewish settlement in the heart of the occupied West Bank, a spokesman settlement sources said.

Israeli  Ministry of Defence to pursue construction on the site of the industrial area of  Ariel settlement.

Around 10 factories exist and the project is to reach 35 factories in this area and the work resumed today, Monday.

Israeli Defence Ministry had frozen the Ariel project around a year ago to check its feasibility.

The settlement lies south of the Palestinian city of Nablus and is one of the biggest in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinians have repeatedly said the expansion of settlements in the West Bank is the main obstacle to the success of peace talks with Israel formally relaunched at a US conference in November.

Since the peace talks were revived, Israel has announced several settlement expansions, mainly in east Jerusalem, which it occupied and annexed in the 1967 war.