Biden seeks to reassure Palestinians on U.S. role in peace talks

Reporting from Bethlehem — 

Vice President Joe Biden sought Wednesday to reassure Palestinians that the United States intends to push ahead with its Mideast peacemaking effort, despite a diplomatic blowup with Israel this week over its plans to build new housing in Jerusalem.

After meetings with the Palestinian president and prime minister in the West Bank, Biden emphasized American determination to act as the intermediary in talks between Israelis and Palestinians, and declared that the Palestinians deserve a “viable” state.

In Israel, meanwhile, a partisan crossfire erupted over the government’s announcement of plans for new housing, which embarrassed Biden during a high-level visit intended to improve relations between the allies and prompted a statement by the Americans denouncing the Israelis.

In an appearance with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah, Biden again scolded the Israelis for taking a step the Obama administration considers a threat to chances for a negotiated peace deal. Biden said U.S. officials “will hold both sides accountable for any statements or actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks, as this decision did.”

He added: “It is incumbent on all parties to grow an atmosphere of support for the negotiations and not to complicate them.”

Biden insisted that the administration “is fully committed to the Palestinian people and to achieving a Palestinian state that is independent, viable, and contiguous. Everyone should know -- everyone should know by now that there is no viable alternative to a two-state solution.”

Abbas said the Israeli decision to move ahead on plans for 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem “must be canceled.”

The plan “undermines confidence and deals a severe blow to the efforts that have been exerted in the past months to launch indirect negotiations,” he said.

Nevertheless, Abbas gave no signal that he is rethinking his decision this week to take part in the new round of talks.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the Israeli housing announcement Tuesday was “damaging for sure” and posed a challenge to the new round of peace talks, which are expected to start within weeks.

Fayyad expressed Palestinians’ appreciation for “the strong statements of condemnation” quickly issued by U.S. officials following publication of the new Israeli housing plan.

The announcement, by the Israeli Interior Ministry late Tuesday, represented a personal embarrassment for Biden, and appeared to demonstrate the limits of American influence over events between the two sides.

Nonetheless, U.S. officials and private analysts said the setback would have little effect on U.S. determination to mark even halting progress toward Middle East peace.

President Obama has said that progress is crucial in order for the United States to advance its broader goals in the region, including in the widening rivalry for influence with Iran.

A U.S. official Wednesday noted Obama’s past comments, adding: “Nothing changed on that this week.”

The Israeli minister who announced the housing project apologized for the developments, but did not withdraw the housing plan.

“We had no desire, no intention, to offend or taunt an important man like the vice president on his trip,” Eli Yishai, the minister from the hawkish Shas Party, told Israel Radio. “I am very sorry for the embarrassment. We need to remember that approvals are done according to the law, even if the timing was wrong. Next time we need to take the timing into account.”

In Israel, liberal commentators and left-leaning party members despaired of the clash.

“Why would Israeli officials degrade Israel by humiliating the vice president of the United States?” asked a column by Bradley Burston in the liberal Haaretz newspaper.

Jerusalem City Council member Meir Margalit of the far left Meretz party told Haaretz that Yishai’s unwillingness to delay the announcement several days, until Biden left the country, “proves his goal was to give the American administration a slap in the face.”

Even aside from the housing flap, Arabs across the Middle East greeted Biden’s visit to the Middle East with skepticism and expressed disdain for his commitment to Israeli security without acknowledging Palestinian security needs.

Arabs also described Israel’s housing plan as evidence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has only contempt for peace.

“They see the visit as a humiliating experience for the Obama administration and Biden himself,” said Oussama Safa of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, a Beirut think tank. “They see it as a deliberate and calculated move to add insult to the injury to send the message that [Israelis] are the one pulling the strings.”

Biden’s visit dominated headlines and news broadcasts across the region, but the sight of the vice president embracing Israeli officials largely disappointed Arabs.

“Biden has said that Washington is committed indefinitely to Israel’s security,” said an Egyptian radio commentary broadcast Wednesday. “Hence, the decision of Tel Aviv to build 1,600 settlements in Eastern Jerusalem is not strange.”

A correspondent on the pan Arab news channel Al Jazeera said Biden’s visit was primarily intended to reassure Israel that the United States would confront Iran.

But commentators said Washington’s unqualified commitment to the Israeli definition of its own security guaranteed the failure of any peace talks.

“The U.S. ignores Arab and Palestinian rights completely and makes Israeli security part of U.S. security,” said an editorial in Egypt’s pro-government Jomhouriyeh. “Hence, it insists on destroying negotiations.”

But some media noted the strong criticism of Israel from Biden, who Tuesday said he “condemned” the Israeli action -- a word U.S. officials rarely use about Israel.

“He used very strong statements,” said Radwan Abdullah, a Jordanian political scientist. “In a way, people are happy that Israel is being unmasked.”

Staff writer Borzou Daragahi in Beirut contributed to this report

Paul.Richter@latimes.com