Anger at Israeli ministry’s announcement to build 1,600 housing units in east Jerusalem

10 March 2010

Palestinian leaders have told US Vice President Joe Biden in Ramallah that Israel's plan to build 1,600 homes for settlers in east Jerusalem undermined Washington's efforts to get indirect peace talks between them and the Israelis underway soon. "This is a moment of great challenge to the effort by the United States to get the political process going again," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said at a meeting with Biden, adding that Israel's action "definitely undermines confidence in the prospects for peace.” Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said President Mahmoud Abbas would ask Biden in a meeting later in the day to press Israel to revoke the settlement decision.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli cabinet minister apologized for what he termed "real embarrassment" caused to Biden by the Interior Ministry’s announcement on Tuesday. Biden, who began his visit to Israel on Monday, issued a strongly worded statement condemning the Israeli plan as “precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now.” The US vice-president reportedly kept Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waiting for 90 minutes at a dinner he hosted for him, after the project was made public. "I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units," Biden said in a statement issued after he had finally arrived for the meal.

European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton also criticized the plan. "I join Vice President Biden in condemning the decision to build 1,600 new houses in east Jerusalem," she told a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. In New York, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the Israeli plan and reiterated “that [the Israeli] settlements are illegal under international law,” according to his spokesman.

Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak also expressed anger at the announcement of the Interior Ministry, which is run by the Orthodox Shas Party. A statement released by his ministry says: that the announcement by the Interior Ministry negatively “affects peace negotiations with the Palestinians – negotiations of the highest interest for Israel."