Israeli prime minister calls settlement dispute with US hurtful
World
Israeli prime minister calls settlement dispute with US hurtful
The Obama administration continued to criticise Israel's announcement to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.In an interview taped on Friday and broadcast Sunday on NBC's Meet The Press, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the announcement an insult to her country. It was insulting. And it was insulting not just to the vice president, who certainly did not deserve that. He was there with a very clear message of commitment to the peace process solidarity with the Israeli people. But it was an insult to the United States, said Clinton. It was not just an unfortunate incident of timing but the substance was something that is not needed as we are attempting to move toward the resumption of negotiations. This was an affront, this was an insult but most importantly it undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region. We just now have started proximity talks, that is shuttle diplomacy between the Palestinians and the Israelis and for this announcement to come at that time was very, very destructive, said Axelrod. The timing of Israel's disclosure, after Palestinians agreed to indirect peace talks, embarrassed Biden and raised questions over whether Israel's settlement policy could harm US-Israeli security cooperation on the question of Iran.
