Israel ups the ante as Biden arrives
US Vice President Joseph Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden acknowledge welcomers on their arrival at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday. (AP)
Published: Mar 8, 2010 22:29 Updated: Mar 8, 2010 22:33
JERUSALEM: Israel authorized the construction of new apartments in the West Bank despite a pledge to slow down settlement building, the government disclosed Monday, enraging the Palestinians just as the US vice president landed in Israel to push new peace talks.
Word of the construction of 112 new apartments in the Beitar Illit settlement and their possible complication of the talks came amid a flurry of activity by the US to try to salvage peacemaking. The Palestinians agreed Sunday to hold indirect talks with Israel, a first achievement for the Obama administration's diplomatic efforts here.
Vice President Joseph Biden's arrival in Israel on Monday marks the highest-level visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by an Obama administration official. Washington's special envoy to the Mideast, George Mitchell, was also in the region, meeting Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Israel of trying to undermine the talks even before they began. “If the Israeli government wants to sabotage Mitchell's efforts by taking such steps, let's talk to Mitchell about maybe not doing this (indirect talks) if the price is so high,” Erekat said.
The Palestinians presented the US envoy with a document outlining their desired peace agreement — a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, with minor border adjustments. At his meeting with Mitchell, Abbas also raised the issue of the new construction, Erekat said, saying it “put a big question mark on what it is that we came to do.”
The United States said Israel's approval of building 112 new Jewish homes in occupied West Bank did not violate a limited Israeli settlement freeze but was the kind of act both sides should be cautious about as they embark on indirect talks.
"When you are in talks of this kind, you have to recognize the interests and perceptions of the other side and both sides should be cautious about actions that might be either misperceived within the region or that might be exploited by those who want to create obstacles to further progress," US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters in Washington.
Netanyahu sounded upbeat after his meeting with Mitchell on Monday. “I believe we will succeed in advancing the diplomatic process,” the Israeli leader said. “But the diplomatic process is not a game, it is real, and rooted first and foremost in (Israel's) security.”
Jewish construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is a particularly sore point with the Palestinians because it challenges their claims to lands they want for a future state. Under heavy US pressure, Israel agreed in November to restrict building in the West Bank to some 3,000 apartments whose construction was already under way. But it rejected any curbs in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want for their future capital.
The government said at the time that exceptions to the slowdown could be allowed, and on Monday, the Ministry of Defense said an exception was made in the case of the ultra-Orthodox Beitar Illit because of what it termed safety and infrastructure issues. The ministry said it was the biggest exception granted since the slowdown went into effect.
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DAVID LOW
Mar 9, 2010 13:21
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