Israel’s new plan to build 1,600 apartments for Jews in Palestinian-claimed east Jerusalem overshadowed US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the West Bank yesterday.
Biden was to hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, in part to ease their doubts about the latest US peace efforts. Israel’s interior ministry said late on Tuesday that it had approved the new construction, an embarrassing setback for Biden after a day of warm meetings with senior Israeli officials.
Fayyad said the Israeli announcement was “damaging” and posed a “great challenge” to restarting peace talks. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the new construction would be the main item on the Abbas-Biden agenda.
PHOTO: AFP
“I think the Israeli government is making it almost impossible for us, the Americans and the international community, to take a one centimeter step in the direction of reviving the peace process,” Erekat said.
In an apparent snub, Biden pointedly arrived 90 minutes late to his scheduled dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he sharply rebuked the Israeli step — which came just after the Palestinians agreed to a new round of indirect peace talks under US mediation after a 14-month lapse.
“The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now,” Biden said.
“We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them,” he said, warning that “unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations.”
Fayyad said the Palestinians appreciated “the strong statement of condemnation” by the US.
The new construction plan also drew a sharp rebuke from Egypt and from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
“This is absurd. It is disdainful of the Arab and the Palestinian positions and the American mediation,” said Hossam Zaki, a spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry.
Israeli media lambasted the move, calling it an embarrassment.
“A slap heard round the world,” read the headline of a front-page commentary in Israel’s Haaretz daily.
Israel’s refusal to halt building on war-won land has infuriated the Palestinians and undermined their faith in the US as an effective mediator.
US President Barack Obama initially called for a complete settlement freeze, but did not take Israel to task when it only agreed to a 10-month moratorium on housing starts in the West Bank.
Abbas has said he won’t resume direct negotiations without a settlement freeze, leaving the US no choice but to arrange the indirect talks in hopes of ending the impasse.
The latest Israeli building plan is undermining Abbas, Erekat said.
“It’s a really disastrous situation. I hope that this will be an eye-opener for all in the international community,” he said.
Israel claimed the timing of the announcement was coincidental.
At Tuesday’s dinner, Netanyahu told Biden he was caught off guard by the ministry’s announcement, a senior Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the dinner was closed.
An Israeli Cabinet minister also apologized yesterday for embarrassing Biden by announcing the plans during his visit.
“This should not have happened during a visit by the US vice president,” Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog said on Army Radio.
“This is a real embarrassment and now we have to express our apologies for this serious blunder,” he said.
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