US 'dismayed' at Israel's defiance

Paul Woodward, Online Correspondent

• Last Updated: November 19. 2009 10:19AM UAE / November 19. 2009 6:19AM GMT

Less than three weeks after the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, speaking for the Obama administration, praised Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for showing "unprecedented" restraint in settlement growth, 900 new housing units have been approved for construction in Israeli occupied East Jerusalem.

In Washington, the news drew a swift response from the White House which issued a statement saying: "We are dismayed at the Jerusalem Planning Committee's decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem."

While The Wall Street Journal reported: "Middle East analysts said the White House statement was one of the strongest rebukes of Israeli activities in the disputed territories in recent years," the strength of the admonishment was open to question.

In a US state department briefing, Matthew Lee, a reporter for the Associated Press, questioned spokesman Ian Kelly on the administration's choice of terms.

Mr Lee said: "You characterised this decision by the planning commission as dismaying... You can't come up with anything stronger than 'dismaying'? I mean, this flies in the face of everything you've been talking about for months and months and months."

Mr Kelly responded: "It's dismaying."

Mr Lee: "Yeah, you can't offer a condemnation of it or anything like that? (Laughter.) I mean, who is in charge of the language here?"

On Wednesday, the US president Barack Obama, during a tour of Asia gave an interview to Fox News.

"The situation in the Middle East is very difficult, and I've said repeatedly and I'll say again, Israel's security is a vital national interest to the United States, and we will make sure they are secure," Mr Obama said.

"I think that additional settlement building does not contribute to Israel's security. I think it makes it harder for them to make peace with their neighbours. I think it embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous," he added.

Lara Friedman pointed out that if the construction goes ahead, the hundreds of new apartments will not be erected within the existing footprint of the settlement.

"Rather, they will be on the settlement's southwestern flank, expanding Gilo in the direction of the Palestinian village of Wallajeh (a village in which a large number of the homes are fighting Israeli demolition orders). This new Gilo plan clearly dovetails with another plan to build a new settlement, called Givat Yael, which would straddle the Jerusalem border and significantly extend Israeli Jerusalem to the south, further sealing the city off from the Bethlehem area and the West Bank (and connecting it to the Etzion settlement bloc). That plan, it was reported yesterday, also appears to be suddenly gaining steam.

"The Gilo plan is thus extremely provocative on several levels. It represents a clear and public statement from the Netanyahu government that it is neither 'freezing' nor acting with 'restraint' in East Jerusalem. It compels the Palestinians to respond, just as it compels other regional actors to respond. Finally, it has important strategic implications, since the plan, implemented, would impact on border options for Jerusalem under a future peace agreement."

Britain's foreign office was unequivocal in condemning the Israeli decision.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it had been "very clear that a credible deal involves Jerusalem as a shared capital," a spokeswoman said and added: "Expanding settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem makes that deal much harder. So this decision is wrong and we oppose it."

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported: "Israel broke ground on a new housing complex for Jews in east Jerusalem on Wednesday, brushing off President Barack Obama's criticism that construction in the disputed part of the holy city undermines efforts to relaunch Mideast peace talks...

"The Israeli government declined to respond to Obama's comments. But earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel had no intention of stopping the Gilo construction. He called the neighborhood 'an integral part of Israel, an integral part of Jerusalem'."

JTA added: "There is 'Israeli consensus' that the eastern Jerusalem Jewish neighbourhood of Gilo belongs to Israel, opposition leader Tzipi Livni said.

" 'Beyond dealing with the immediate issue, this understanding is important for all discussions about permanent borders,' Livni, head of the center Kadima Party, told French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in a meeting Wednesday in Jerusalem.

"Kouchner, who is on a three-day mission to the region, condemned the Jerusalem municipality's approval for the construction of 900 new apartments abutting the Gilo neighborhood, which would expand the borders of the Jerusalem community. He also called for Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks."

Ynet reported: "Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed the international criticism of Israel's plan to build hundreds of housing units in Jerusalem's southeastern Gilo neighborhood.

"He said the Gilo project 'provides 900 more reasons why hopes for salvaging the two-state solution and restarting genuine negotiations are rapidly fading, and why Israel is not a partner for peace.'"

An editorial from France's Le Monde, a translation of which appeared in Truthout said: "It's time to stop the verbal pretense. In the Near East, there is no negotiation 'process' underway. Furthermore, there is also no prospect for peace. The situation is nonetheless not in a state of status quo: it is regressing. Dangerously. The United States bears the primary responsibility. Several months ago, Barack Obama had placed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the top of his priorities. He demanded that Israel stop the expansion of settlements within Palestinian territory on the West Bank. It was, if not a prerequisite, at least a condition to allow the reopening of negotiations with the Palestinians.

"The Israelis said no: settlements will continue to expand, but at a somewhat slower rate, replied Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The United States just took it: speaking through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, it flatly endorsed Mr Netanyahu's, position.... Within a few weeks, Mr Obama lost the credit in the Arab world that his remarkable speech in Cairo in June had gained him. Even in diplomatic language, that's called a monumental fiasco."

pwoodward@thenational.ae