Biden assures Israel of support

Mar 9, 2010 — Washington Post

Janine Zacharia

JERUSALEM -- Vice President Biden strongly criticized Israel on Tuesday for approving construction of 1,600 new housing units in the eastern part of Jerusalem, a decision announced a day after Israeli leaders and the Palestinians agreed to U.S-mediated, indirect peace negotiations and while Biden himself was meeting with top officials here.

"I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem. 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 and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I've had here in Israel,'' Biden said in a statement released while he was having dinner with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at his residence.

"We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them. This announcement underscores the need to get negotiations under way that can resolve all the outstanding issues of the conflict," Biden said.

The future of Jerusalem is a core dispute in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, resolution of which has eluded U.S. peace negotiators for decades. U.S. mediator George Mitchell has been exploring peacemaking formulas that would punt the Jerusalem question to later in the negotiations and begin, instead, with talks on borders for a future Palestinian state and security arrangements.

Still, as of Tuesday the precise scope and structure of the "proximity" talks between Israel and the Palestinians had not been agreed to, making the timing of the Israeli decision not only embarrassing for Biden but perilous for the new peace effort as well.

"The United States recognizes that Jerusalem is a deeply important issue for Israelis and Palestinians and for Jews, Muslims and Christians," Biden said. "We believe that through good faith negotiations, the parties can mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem and safeguards its status for people around the world. Unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations on permanent status issues."

Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem in 1967 and subsequently annexed it, a move not recognized by the international community. The Palestinians are banking on having east Jerusalem as a capital of a future Palestinian state.

A spokesman for Eli Yishai, the Interior Minister, said that the plan approved by the Jerusalem District Planning Committee has been in the works for more than three years.

The decision may have blindsided Netanyahu as well.

"This is a procedural stage in the framework of a long process that will yet continue for some time," the spokesman said in a statement. "The Committee meeting was determined in advance and there is no connection to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel. Interior Minister Eli Yishai updated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the foregoing earlier this evening."

The housing units would be added to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood called Ramat Shlomo.

Israel agreed in November to a 10-month moratorium on some new settlement construction in the West Bank that did not include the eastern part of Jerusalem.

Biden's four-day visit includes a speech in Tel Aviv on Thursday where he also will try to court the Israeli public, some of whom resent that President Obama has visited Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia in the past year but not Israel.