Jerusalem - Bowing to widespread public criticism, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the planned deportation of illegal foreign workers and their children will be postponed for three months, until October.

During the same period, the government would try to formulate a policy on the matter, a statement from Netanyahu's office said Thursday night.

But, said the statement, issued after Netanyahu met with Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Interior Minister Eli Yishai, the government will also continue with its efforts to deport illegal foreign workers, and to help those who decide to leave of their own volition.

The statement from Netanyahu's office came several hours after President Shimon Peres made a last-ditch plea to Yishai, asking him not to go ahead with plans to deport the children of foreign workers.

"Who better than a people who have suffered bitterly in exile to show sensitivity to fellowman living in its midst," the president wrote in a letter to Yishai, leader of the ultra-religious Shas party.

The expulsion illegal foreign workers, and their 1200 children, was set to begin next week.

"We are aware of the complexity of the issue," Peres said in his letter, and added that "it would be prudent to find a fair solution, in the spirit of the tradition of our people, and within the confines of the law."

He said he recently visited a school in south Tel Aviv where many of the children of foreign workers study.

"I felt from them an Israeliness which they were born with, I felt their love for Israel," he said.

"We cannot remain apathetic to the fate of these children and teenagers," the president added.(dpa)