JERUSALEM – An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed U.S. anger at Israel's approval for new homes in a settlement near Jerusalem, saying it was part of a routine building program.

Netanyahu seemed keen to contain the fresh dispute with Washington over settlements, ordering cabinet ministers to show restraint after the White House said it was "dismayed" at the plan to build 900 new houses in Gilo.

An official said the order went out after a deputy minister was quoted by an Israeli news website as accusing the United States of "behaving like a bull in a china shop" for objecting to the building plan for an area in the West Bank that Israel sees as part of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu's aide also sent reporters a message calling the building plan "a routine process."

He said Netanyahu does not normally review municipal building plans and saw Gilo as "an integral part of Jerusalem."

"Construction in Gilo has taken place regularly for dozens of years and there is nothing new about the current planning and construction," the aide added.

Publication of the government commission's blueprint for Gilo on Tuesday drew sharp rebukes from the Palestinians, joined by Washington, Europe and the United Nations.

Nabil Abu Rdaineh, aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the building plan, saying it "destroys the last chances for the peace process." Abbas has said peace talks can resume only if settlement building stops.