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Biden raps surprise step by Israel on new housing
Seeking to boost talks and mend ties, he said the move “undermines the trust we need right now.”
JERUSALEM - In the midst of a high-profile visit by Vice President Biden, Israel yesterday announced plans for new housing in disputed Jerusalem, a surprise step that embarrassed and angered the highest-ranking Obama administration official yet to visit the country.
Biden, who had come to promote new peace talks and to smooth the administration's strained relations with a longtime ally, instead condemned as a threat to the search for peace Israel's plans to build 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem.
Biden called it "precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now."
"We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them," he said.
The sharp turn of events abruptly changed the tenor of the trip in its second day, coming just hours after the vice president proclaimed his love for Israel and declared enduring U.S. support.
Biden's visit followed a year of tension amid Israel's defiance of the Obama administration's admonitions on the same issue: housing construction in disputed areas.
In Washington, the White House added its own criticism. But it was unclear how deeply the latest step by Israel would affect ties between the two countries, which have been strained by tensions over the Jewish state's hard-line security measures.
Aides said Biden raised the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a dinner given in honor of the vice president's visit. U.S. officials have repeatedly warned Israel that such development in Jerusalem would anger Palestinians and further threaten prospects for peace.
Biden is to deliver a major address tomorrow on U.S.-Israeli relations. He will also meet with Palestinian and Jordanian officials.
Israelis sought to downplay any relation between yesterday's announcement and Biden's visit, saying that the housing plans had been years in the making and that Netanyahu, who appeared in public with Biden only hours earlier, had no idea they were being unveiled.
Nonetheless, the plans by the Israeli Interior Ministry to build the 1,600 homes for Israelis in the Ramat-Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem cast a shadow over Biden's visit, which was aimed at strengthening frayed ties between the two allies.
Palestinian leaders consider such housing moves a threat to the future Palestinian presence in a city that they hope will someday be their capital, and the announcement drew quick protests. Palestinian officials said it was timed to Biden's visit and called for a strong U.S. response.
A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the Israeli move "dangerous" and said it would "torpedo negotiations and the American effort even before they start."
The housing announcement caught even many Israelis by surprise, in part because the neighborhood, home to many young couples, had not been among those previously earmarked for expansion. Ramat-Shlomo is in an Orthodox neighborhood on land seized by Israel after the 1967 war.
"It's totally out of the blue," said Hagit Ofram, a spokeswoman for Peace Now, who tracks Israeli settlements.
The project still faced hurdles before approval, she said, and construction might not begin for two years. "But politically, it means there is an intention to expand there," she said.
Only Monday, former Sen. George Mitchell, Obama's Middle East envoy, cautioned Israelis and Palestinians to refrain from words or action that could disrupt a planned new round of peace talks.
Biden's trip was intended to promote the new negotiations, known as proximity talks, with U.S. officials carrying messages between the two sides. The talks were to begin within weeks.
Biden said the talks, which come after a year without negotiations, offered a "moment of real opportunity."
In the first hours of his visit, Biden, staunchly pro-Israel as a senator, played down frictions and emphasized his personal love of the country.
"It's great to be home," he told President Shimon Peres during a morning visit to the presidential residence.
He offered praise for Israel's temporary halt on settlement growth and for allowing Palestinians to move more freely in the West Bank.
"The cornerstone of the relationship is our absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel's security," he said. In the guest book at Peres' residence, Biden wrote that the U.S.-Israeli bond was unshakable.
The ensuing housing announcement sent U.S. officials scrambling to unravel what had happened and how. Israel's Interior Ministry, in contrast to its usual practice, released a news statement yesterday regarding the plans, in an apparent effort to ensure widespread coverage.
Some in Israel saw the move as being orchestrated by Israeli's interior minister, Eli Yishai, a leader of the right-wing Shas Party, to express displeasure with Netanyahu's recent embrace of the indirect peace talks with Palestinians. Shas is part of Netanyahu's coalition government.
