Global General

Israel-US ties at lowest level in 35 years

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-15 22:55

JERUSALEM - The Israeli-US ties have plummeted to the lowest level in 35 years, Israeli media Monday quoted the Jewish state's ambassador to Washington as saying, as the two traditional allies seem to have locked horns over an Israeli construction plan in East Jerusalem.

Ambassador Michael Oren rang the alarm during a meeting with Israeli consuls in the United States on Saturday night, when he noted that despite the attempts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office to put on a sense of "business as usual," the relations between Israel and its most important ally are encountering the worst crisis in 35 years, according to Israeli daily Ha'aretz.

The current crisis emerged when an Israeli Interior Ministry committee announced last week its approval for a project to build 1,600 new housing units in a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem, just as US Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel for peace- making efforts.

The dramatic development amounted to nothing less than a slap in the face to the veep, and posed a fatal danger to the US peace-making efforts that had just begun to bear fruits with the commencement of US-brokered Israeli-Palestinian indirect talks.

Recent days have seen US officials line up to condemn the Israeli move, widely considered as an insult to President Barack Obama's administration, while infuriated Palestinians officials have vowed not to enter the indirect parley until Israel rescinds the construction project in East Jerusalem, the Arab-dominated section of the holy city they claim as the capital of their future state.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reportedly urged Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu to investigate the scenario of the Interior Ministry announcement, reverse the decision on the project, make more confidence-building moves on the ground and pledge to deal with all the core issues of the decades-old conflict in talks with the Palestinians.

The Israeli side has apologized for the "unfortunate timing" of the announcement, and has established a task force to probe what Netanyahu dubbed a regrettable incident that should not have happened. Yet the Jewish state has signalled no intention to cancel the project, as such a move would possibly smash the right- wing-dominated ruling coalition.

Despite recent tensions, local media reported that Netanyahu will still travel to the United States next week for an annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which will also be attended by Clinton and other senior US officials.