|
To build 1,600 settler homes:
Israeli action destructive
US: Israel’s announcement of plans to build 1,600 settler homes in
East Jerusalem was not only an “insult” to the United States but
“destructive” of the Middle East peace process, a top White House
official said Sunday.
“This was an affront, it was an insult but most importantly it
undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region,” said
David Axelrod, one of President Barack Obama’s closest advisers.
|
ME crisis |
| * It
undermines fragile effort to bring peace to that region.
* Biden himself condemned the
East Jerusalem building plan in a sharp statement issued in
Jerusalem. |
“We have just started proximity talks, that is shuttle diplomacy,
between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and for this announcement to
come at that time was very destructive,” he said on NBC television’s
Meet the Press show.
Israel’s announcement of plans to build the 1,600 housing units in
mostly Arab East Jerusalem came March 10 during a visit by US Vice
President Joe Biden that had aimed to encourage the first indirect
Israeli-Palestinian talks since Israel’s 2008-2009 offensive in Gaza.
Axelrod’s comments were further evidence of the Obama
administration’s growing frustration with conservative Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Biden himself condemned the East Jerusalem building plan in a sharp
statement issued in Jerusalem and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
told Netanyahu directly in a 43-minute phone call that the announcement
sent a “deeply negative” signal about Israel’s approach to relations
with Washington.
Axelrod said both Biden’s and Clinton’s words reflected Obama’s
thinking, and he said he believed Netanyahu had received the message.
His comments came after Netanyahu, who has expressed regret over the
timing of the announcement, sought to calm down what many in Israel see
as the worst crisis in US-Israeli relations in two decades.
“We opened the papers this morning and saw the analyses and reviews,”
Netanyahu said Sunday ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting. “I suggest we
not get carried away, and calm down.”
“We know how to deal with situations like these, calmly, responsibly
and seriously,” he said.
Washington, Monday, AFP |
