Clinton rebukes Netanyahu over housing move
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today delivered a stinging rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his government’s announcement of new Jewish housing in east Jerusalem, calling it “a deeply negative signal.”
The State Department said Mrs Clinton spoke to Mr Netanyahu by phone for 40 minutes to vent US frustration with Tuesday’s announcement.
It cast a pall over a visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden and endangered indirect peace talks with the Palestinians that the Obama administration had announced just a day earlier.
Mrs Clinton called “to make clear that the United States considered the announcement to be a deeply negative signal about Israel’s approach to the bilateral relationship and counter to the spirit of the vice president’s trip,” a department spokesman told reporters.
“The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States’ strong commitment to Israel’s security and she made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not just through words but through specific actions that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process,” he said.
Today’s harsh criticism of America’s closest Mideast ally and questions about its commitment to the US-Israeli relationship followed equally blunt condemnation of the housing announcement from the White House and Mr Biden himself.
It also comes ahead of a trip to the region by US Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell and a meeting in Moscow next week of the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers that Mrs Clinton will attend.
The quartet – the US, European Union, United Nations and Russia – was expected to release a statement condemning the Israeli announcement later.
The US has long urged both Israel and the Palestinians not to take any steps that could hinder peace talks.
The spokesman stressed that the US objected to both the content and timing of the announcement and said Mrs Clinton had “reinforced that this action had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process and in America’s interests.”
Mr Netanyahu has apologised for the timing, though not the substance, of the announcement of the approval of 1,600 new homes for Jews in east Jerusalem.
The international community does not recognise Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem – captured in the 1967 Mideast war – and the Palestinians see that part of the city as their own future capital.
Earlier today, an Israeli cabinet minister said the government was moving to amend the country’s planning procedures on sensitive political decisions because of the embarrassing diplomatic row. Mr Netanyahu has said he was not aware the announcement was going to be made during Mr Biden’s visit.
The Israeli announcement enraged the Palestinians and Arab states, jeopardising the proximity talks Mr Mitchell is to mediate. An Arab League advisory committee has already withdrawn its endorsement of the discussions.
In a bid to salvage those negotiations, Mr Mitchell and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Jeffrey Feltman, called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Arab League chief Amr Moussa and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over the past two days, the state department spokesman said.
“We have reached out ... to a range of leaders,” he said. “We jointly remain committed to this process, acknowledging that, obviously, it is a difficult environment, given the Israeli statement.”
