Netanyahu Expresses Regret to Biden Over Jerusalem Announcement
Netanyahu also said the start of construction may take years. The U.S. has called for an end to Israeli settlement building and Biden is in the Middle East to try and get indirect peace negotiations off the ground. Biden is scheduled to give a speech in Tel Aviv today before travelling to Jordan.
“In light of the ongoing disagreement between Israel and the U.S. on building in Jerusalem, the prime minister said there was no need to advance the planning process this week,” an e- mailed statement from Netanyahus office said. “The prime minister spoke to Vice President Biden and expressed his regret for the unfortunate timing.”
The plans for 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem were the second building project approved this week in areas sought by Palestinians for a future state, and came after the sides agreed on March 8 to U.S.-backed indirect negotiations intended to break a 15-month impasse.
“President Abbas is waiting for an American response to his request that Israel revoke the construction orders as it will be difficult to engage in negotiations without their being revoked,” chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said in a phone interview today.
Clear Rejection
The 22-member Arab League, which earlier had accepted the idea of indirect talks, said yesterday that Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem is “a clear rejection of peace efforts,” a statement issued by the Middle East News Agency said.
Biden, in comments made after meeting Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah yesterday, called on the sides “to build an atmosphere of support for negotiations and not to complicate them.”
He condemned the Israeli plan to build in east Jerusalem, saying it threatened to undermine peace efforts. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Jordans Minister of Information and Communication Nabil Sharif, and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also criticized the plan.
“As we move forward, the United States will hold both sides accountable for any statements or actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks, as this decision did,” Biden said.
East Jerusalem
The homes approved this week will be built in an area of Jerusalem captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a state they are seeking to establish in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Also this week, Israel approved the construction of about 100 homes in a West Bank settlement.
Previous U.S. efforts to revive talks foundered on the issue of West Bank settlements, with Netanyahu announcing a partial building halt that excluded east Jerusalem and Abbas refusing to negotiate without a freeze on all Israeli construction.
“We always make a clear distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem, which is sovereign Israeli territory and the capital and it will remain so,” Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said in a phone interview.
The last round of peace talks collapsed in 2008 after Israel carried out a military operation in the Gaza Strip in what it said was a bid to stop rocket attacks on its southern towns and cities.