World powers came down hard on Israel on Wednesday for its approval to build hundreds of new homes in annexed Arab east Jerusalem as the United States warned it was undermining efforts to relaunch Middle East peace talks.
The unusually biting response from President Barack Obama's administration came after the Israeli interior ministry gave the green light for the construction of 900 new units in Gilo, one of a dozen Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem.
"We are dismayed at the Jerusalem planning committee's decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Obama also called the move "dangerous" while the European Union was also "dismayed" by Israel's move, which Russia labeled as "unacceptable."
Palestinian frustration
We are dismayed at the Jerusalem planning committee's decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem
Obama has made restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians a top foreign policy goal. To that end, he has demanded that Israel cease building new or expanding existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, land the Palestinians want for an independent state.
"At a time when we are working to re-launch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed," said Gibbs, effectively accusing Israel of undermining the floundering U.S.-led peace process.
Israel's settlement move flew in the face of Palestinian calls, backed by Washington, for a complete freeze on new building before any new round of talks.
With the Palestinians so frustrated at the failure of peace efforts that they have launched a unilateral bid to seek statehood from the United Nations, the two sides are as far apart as ever.
"Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appear to pre-empt, negotiations," Gibbs warned in comments echoed by the U.S. State Department.
The speed with which the White House reacted to developments in Jerusalem may have been the result of fallout over remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton three weeks ago in Jerusalem.
She said then that Netanyahu was showing "restraint" about future settlements in the West Bank and called that "positive movement forward."
Netanyahu widely condemned
Arabs were outraged at Clinton's comment because Netanyahu's statement did not change Israel's position on housing activity in Jerusalem. Clinton had to make an unplanned visit to Egypt to walk back her statement. The Palestinians insist that a complete freeze on settlement building is a requirement for restarting peace talks.
Reports in the Israeli media said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had rejected U.S. pleas to halt the construction in Gilo but did not specifically refer to the latest expansion move.
Netanyahu was widely condemned by the international community for allowing new housing units to be erected in the disputed area.
"The secretary-general deplores the government of Israel's decision today to expand Gilo settlement, built on Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war," said a spokesman for United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.
France and Saudi Arabia added their voice to the chorus of criticism of the decision to expand Gilo.
"It is a decision that we regret," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in Jerusalem hours before he was to meet with Netanyahu and other senior officials in Jerusalem.
"We have to restart with the political discussions," he said.
Saudi Arabia branded the move as "a major obstacle in the way of the peace process."
"Unless there are decisive measures taken in regard to these policies, it is too difficult to advance the peace process," Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Nugali told AFP.
Britain echoed the criticism. The Foreign Office said Foreign Secretary David Miliband "has been very clear that a credible deal involves Jerusalem as a shared capital.
"Expanding settlements on occupied land in east Jerusalem makes that deal much harder. So this decision is wrong and we oppose it," a spokeswoman said.
"Eternal "capital
Israel insists that East Jerusalem never will be surrendered to Arab rule. It captured with the rest of the West Bank in the Six Day War of 1967. It later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community and insists on retaining the whole of the Holy City as its "eternal, indivisible" capital.
The city is considered holy by the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
The Palestinians are determined to make the city's eastern sector the capital of their promised state and deplore the fact that Israel has so far only offered a limited reduction in new building there.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the impasse gave him no choice but to unilaterally pursue international recognition of a Palestinian state, even as Europe and the United States discouraged the move.
"We feel we are in a very difficult situation," he said in Cairo after talks with Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak. "What is the solution for us? To remain suspended like this, not in peace? That is why I took this step."
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