On these pages last month, Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, declared that the moment was right for peace negotiations with Palestinian leaders.
“We are committed,” he wrote, “to moving as swiftly as possible to resolve all outstanding issues between ourselves and the Palestinians, including the thorny issues of Jerusalem, borders and refugees.”
It’s difficult to reconcile that commitment with the way Vice President Joe Biden was greeted in Israel this week.
On the very day Biden arrived to promote peace talks, Israel announced plans to build 1,600 more homes in disputed East Jerusalem. That raises at least two questions:
Would a U.S. leader have been dissed so publicly if Israeli leaders didn’t believe that the Obama administration is in too weak a position to object?
And are some in the Israeli government trying to sabotage any peace deal?
The early indications are not encouraging. President Barack Obama is of a mind to avoid public confrontation with Israel at a time when he needs it on board in his diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. While Israel’s interior minister apologized for the chronology of the announcement, he did not back down from the plan itself. He also troublingly suggested there would be more expansions, saying that “next time we need to take the timing into account.”
What one Israeli newspaper called “The Slap Heard ‘Round the World” is certainly not the segue one would want to the first peace negotiations in more than a year. These are not even direct talks, but ones where U.S. officials will carry messages back and forth.
The future of Jerusalem is one of the hottest flash points in the negotiations. The Palestinians insist on East Jerusalem as their capital should they ever get a state, but Israel claims the entire holy city.
Biden was right to be angry – for the personal insult, yes, but more so for the distrust it only worsened. He was more diplomatic than his hosts, urging both sides to avoid actions “that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks.”