Dubai: Benjamin Netanyahu has officially apologised, but Palestinians and Arab analysts will have none of it. They say the Israeli prime minister's statement of regret at the announcement of colony-building plans, during US Vice-President Joe Biden's visit, was actually a ploy to calm the angry international community.
"We don't want apologies," West Bank-based Palestinian analyst Hani Masri said. "We want him [Netanyahu] to cancel all the [colony building] plans."
Netanyahu's statement is a deception aimed to absorb the American and international anger, Masri told Gulf News.
After the cabinet meeting yesterday, Netanyahu attempted to contain the anger over the announcement of plans to build 1,600 homes in occupied East Jerusalem
"There was an unfortunate incident that was unintentional, and it was hurtful and surely should not have occurred," Netanyahu said. "We appointed a team that will find the chain of events in order to ensure procedures that make sure incidents like this do not happen in the future."
However, it seems that Netanyahu's statement had very little effect on Washington, which continued to criticise Israel.
President Barack Obama's chief political adviser David Axelrod said the Israelis' action was both an "affront" and an "insult" [the same word was used by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton].
Axelrod told NBC's Meet the Press yesterday that the move undermines the fragile effort to bring peace to the region. He said the timing of the announcement was "very destructive."
Both Biden and Clinton have condemned the move, which has been roundly criticised. Some reports said Clinton called Netanyahu on Friday night and delivered a 43-minute dressing-down.
"This is not enough," Palestinian government spokesperson Gassan Khatib said, "because our problem is not with the timing of the announcement, or the planned 1,600 units. Our problem is with [Israeli] policy of extending the colonies, and all forms of expansion."
Collision course
"There is a real problem between the two sides," Khatib told Gulf News. "The Israeli colony-building policy is now actually colliding with the American efforts to revive the peace talks."
The Israeli announcement "undermined Biden's mission and embarrassed him during his visits to the neighbouring countries," Jordanian international relations professor Hassan Barari said.
But Barari feels the tension is a summer cloud that will disappear. Many Arab analysts also believe Israel will continue to "Judaise" occupied Jerusalem amid "Arab silence" as US and Israel are not paying a political, economic or military price for their policies.
