Vice President Joe Biden had been sent to the Mideast to kick-start the peace effort. But a poorly timed announcement of Israeli housing plans for Jerusalem has dimmed the prospect for talks
By Paul Richter
Reporting from Tel Aviv - As Vice President Joe Biden's trip to Israel wound to a close, prospects for new peace talks seemed to dim Thursday because of Palestinian anger at Israeli plans to construct housing in a disputed Jerusalem neighborhood.
Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator, said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would not take part in upcoming indirect peace talks unless Israel abandoned plans to construct 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem. Erekat told Israel Radio that Palestinians intend to press U.S. envoy George Mitchell to try to reverse the Israeli decision when Mitchell returns to the region next week.
Abbas' apparent shift of position suggests that the peace effort has lost ground this week as Biden has tried to mobilize both sides to begin talks after a one-year interruption.
Also Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that he had instructed Israeli agencies to avoid disruptive announcements of construction projects like the one unveiled Tuesday. The ill-timed announcement seemed to undermine Biden's efforts to bring both sides to the indirect peace talks, and Biden condemned it in strong language Tuesday and Wednesday.
Netanyahu's statement said he had personally "expressed his displeasure" to the Israeli interior minister at the timing of the announcement, and had instructed the minister "to adopt procedures to prevent such an incident from recurring."
The statement said the remaining approvals for the 1,600-unit project "will in all likelihood take more than a year and the beginning of actual construction would likely take several years." But Israel's position is that construction in Jerusalem is legal and proper, and Netanyahu didn't imply that he disapproved of the construction.
Palestinians and American officials say such construction hinders the peace process because it decides control of land that is to be resolved by negotiation.
Biden nevertheless hailed Netanyahu's statement. He said the extended time involved in completing the project would allow a chance for negotiators to work out a final peace deal on Jerusalem and the other major issues.
Biden, a longtime supporter of Israel, was dispatched by the administration to try to improve strained relations with Israel and to add a push to the peace effort. But announcement of the project has upset U.S. officials and Palestinians, and catalyzed criticism of the Israeli government from some in the center and left of the Israeli political spectrum.
Biden spoke to students at Tel Aviv University on Thursday, proclaiming that American support for Israel is total. He argued that President Obama's efforts to engage the Muslim world, by diminishing Muslim anger, benefit Israel as well as the United States.
Biden visits Jordan Thursday and Friday before returning to Washington.
Los Angeles Times
