Israel under pressure as prospects of talks fade(Alarabiya.net)
Israel found itself under increasing international pressure on Thursday over its decision to build new Jewish settlements just as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Jerusalem to promote the talks.
The Israeli decision prompted Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to cancel fresh U.S.-led indirect peace talks with the Jewish state. Abbas had only agreed to the talks on condition that Israel imposed a Jewish settlement freeze.
"The Palestinian president decided he will not enter into those negotiations now ... the Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate under the present circumstances," Arab League Amr Mousa told a news conference following an urgent meeting of Arab delegates at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.
A statement from the League overnight Wednesday said: "The Israeli measures must be stopped before any discussion on a resumption of talks, direct or indirect."
"Our position is clear," Mousa told reporters. "There cannot be talks, direct or indirect, if the recent Israeli decisions are not cancelled," referring to Tuesday's announcement on settlements by the interior ministry.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley confirmed Wednesday that they had raised the issue with Israeli officials.
Crowley, who admitted it was unusual for them to condemn such a close ally as Israel, told reporters: "We are talking to the government and trying to understand what happened and why."
The news had already sparked a statement from Biden denouncing the move.
A White House statement confirmed he had showed up 90 minutes late for dinner at the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence Tuesday.
Biden had been hoping his visit to the Middle East would boost the chances of indirect talks. Instead he found himself dealing with the fall-out from Israel's decision.
Biden made his feelings clear again during a press conference Wednesday with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
"As we move forward, the United States will hold both sides accountable for any statements or actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks as this decision did," he said.
"It is incumbent on all parties to grow an atmosphere of support for the negotiations and not to complicate them."
Abbas said Israel's announcement, and an earlier decision to build 112 new homes for settlers in the West Bank, "undermine trust and deal a severe blow to efforts deployed over the past months to start indirect negotiations."
The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.
Israel, which seized east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community, considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital.
Australia joined international condemnation Thursday of Israel's new settlement building, saying the move was "not helpful" to building peace with the Palestinians.
"I share the view that this is a bad decision at the wrong time, and it's not a helpful contribution to the peace process," Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told Sky News.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton issued a statement Wednesday condemning the Israeli decision.
"The European Union reiterates that settlements are illegal under international law," it said, echoing a point made by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon a day earlier.
Several individual member states issued their own messages attacking the Israeli position.
"This is a bad decision at the wrong time," said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
"It will give strength to those who argue that Israel is not serious about peace."
In Washington meanwhile, State Department spokesman Crowley made it clear that the subject was not going to go away.
"We are in discussions with the Israelis about this announcement and I'm sure that it will come up when the senator is in the region next week," he said, referring to former senator George Mitchell, the U.S. Middle East envoy.
Mitchell is to return to the region, having helped broker a deal to begin indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks on Monday, which would have been the first of any kind since Israel launched its war in Gaza in December 2008.
By Thursday however, that work seemed to be in ruins.
"The insult has reached a point that not a single Arab could accept," Mousa told reporters before the emergency Arab League meeting.
