US scrambles to save peace talks

Occupied Jerusalem: Israel's relationship with the United States, a defining feature of the troubled Middle East, was under severe strain as diplomats scrambled yesterday to save newborn US-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians.

A senior US official predicted "a dicey period here in the next couple days to a couple of weeks" as Palestinians demanded the reversal of a new Israeli plan on colonies and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, which includes pro-colonies parties, reacts to unusually blunt criticism from Washington.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israel's behaviour "insulting" after it approved 1,600 new homes last week at a colony in an area in Occupied Jerusalem on the very day Vice-President Joe Biden was there to set a seal on relaunched negotiations.

No alternative

Biden told Reuters on Friday he believed Netanyahu was sincere in seeking a deal to give the Palestinians a state and that the premier understood that Israel had "no alternative".

Though Clinton stressed that Washington's ties with the Jewish state were "durable and strong", she had told Netanyahu in a tele-phone call on Friday that he must act to repair the relationship and show his commitment to an alliance which, she reminded him, was key to Israel's security in a hostile region.

While accepting that Netanyahu was taken by surprise by the housing approval for colonies granted last Tuesday by his interior ministry, which is run by the pro-colonies religious Shas party, Clinton said the prime minister was still responsible for it.

Her spokesman said she told him it was a "deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship ... and had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process". There was no reaction from Israeli officialdom during the Jewish sabbath but in Washington, the Anti-Defamation League, which lobbies for Israel with US lawmakers, called Clinton's remarks on the diplomatic debacle a "gross over-reaction".

"We are shocked and stunned at the administration's tone and public dressing down of Israel," the ADL's Abraham Foxman said.

Harsh language

"We cannot remember an instance when such harsh language was directed at a friend and ally of the United States. One can only wonder how far the US is prepared to go in distancing itself from Israel in order to placate the Palestinians."

Obama is seeking better US relations with the Arab world.

Breaking the stalemate on a Palestinian state after 20 years of talking might help challenge Arab perceptions that Washington is in thrall to Israel, some analysts believe, although Israel's strong support in Congress tends to limit US pressure on it.

Aides to Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he was waiting to meet US President Barack Obama's peace envoy George Mitchell when he returns to the region in the coming days before deciding whether to maintain his week-old commitment to starting "proximity talks" with Netanyahu via US mediators.

Mitchell and the Obama Administration have spent their first year in office pressing the Palestinians to end a suspension of talks dating from Israel's offensive in December 2008 against Abbas's domestic rivals, the Islamist Hamas movement, in Gaza.