Israel’s already strained relationship with the United States hit a new low last week when it announced the construction plans during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden. The timing of the announcement deeply embarrassed the Obama administration and put plans for indirect peace talks with the Palestinians in jeopardy.
The United States responded with repeated condemnations, including a lecture from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton over the weekend. A senior White House official added another stinging rebuke yesterday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has been trying to dispel the notion that relations with the United States have degenerated into a crisis. His attempt yesterday to ease concerns were his first public comments since the feud erupted.
“We opened the newspapers this morning and read all kinds of commentary and assumptions regarding the crisis with the US. I recommend not to get carried away and to calm down,’’ Netanyahu told his Cabinet. “There was a regrettable incident that was done in all innocence and was hurtful, and which certainly should not have occurred.’’
Netanyahu, however, gave no indication that he would cancel the east Jerusalem construction plan, despite warnings from Washington that it could undermine the negotiating climate as indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are about to begin under US mediation.
“Israel and the US have mutual interests,’’ Netanyahu told the Cabinet, pointedly adding, “but we will act according to the vital interests of the state of Israel.’’
Biden condemned the plan, using exceptionally harsh diplomatic language. But at the end of his visit Thursday, he toned down that criticism in an apparent effort to keep the feud from escalating.
Clinton shattered the newfound calm a day later by calling the new housing plan a “deeply negative signal’’ for Mideast peacemaking and ties with the United States.
