For Biden, A Case Of Heartburn In The Holy Land

What started off as a promising goodwill visit by Vice President Biden to Israel this week devolved into diplomatic embarrassment.

Israel's announcement Tuesday of plans to build 1,600 new homes for Israelis in east Jerusalem appeared to catch Biden — the highest-ranking member of the Obama administration yet to visit Israel — by surprise.

Biden quickly issued a statement condemning the Israeli decision to build on land claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians. Israel's interior minister later publicly apologized for the timing of the announcement.

But analysts say the incident was a reminder to both the Obama administration and the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the many obstacles to forging any kind of enduring peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

'A Complete Disaster'

"It does feel like a complete disaster," says Steven Cook, a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He said the announcement was "clearly timed to embarrass Biden and Netanyahu."

"Netanyahu has to be aware of his right flank," Cook said, referring to Shas, the ultra-Orthodox party that has control of the Interior Ministry, which approved the new buildings. The right-wing religious group insists that Jerusalem should not be included in any negotiations with the Palestinians.

Biden, meeting with Palestinian leaders on Wednesday, repeated his criticism of Israel's action and said the United States would hold both Israel and the Palestinians responsible for any steps that make peace more difficult to achieve.

But Biden's week in the region clearly wasn't what the White House had in mind. Analysts say this is what was supposed to have happened during Biden's visit:

He was supposed to tamp down any anxiety in Israel about Washington's commitment to the Jewish state. That he did, with reassuring words for Israel on Tuesday: "Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there's simply no space between the United States and Israel. There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security." He also stressed the U.S. determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

He was also supposed to sound a note of confidence and optimism over plans by Israelis and Palestinians to embark on indirect negotiations. "A moment of opportunity," is what he called it.

Then, the announcement about the new buildings came.

Netanyahu Ambushed By The Far Right?

Senior Israeli officials claimed they, too, were ambushed by the Interior Ministry's announcement, and that Netanyahu had only learned about the expansion shortly before it was announced.

Biden called it "precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now." According to news reports, he kept the prime minister and his wife waiting for an hour and a half before finally joining them for dinner Tuesday.

President Obama has been more vocal than most U.S. presidents on Israeli settlement expansion. His administration has called on Israel to stop all settlement building in order to restart peace talks. But the Israelis only agreed to halt expansion in the West Bank, not east Jerusalem, which Israel considers its undivided capital. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Analysts say the settlement decision was a shot across the bow, not only at Washington, but at Netanyahu and his coalition partners.

"If Netanyahu is at all serious about talks with the Palestinian Authority, this will be just the beginning of his coalition woes," writes Haim Malka, senior fellow and deputy director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Palestinians responded with dismay. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called the Israeli announcement damaging to relations. "This definitely undermines confidence in prospects of the political process which we are all working very hard on," Fayyad said.

And it makes U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell's job that much harder, analysts say. He was supposed to begin his shuttle diplomacy between Jerusalem and Ramallah this week.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat questioned how the Palestinians could move forward, calling it "a really disastrous situation."

It was also a humiliation for the Obama administration, in particular for Biden, says Cook.

"This is particularly appalling because Biden is a real friend of Israel, if ever there was one," he said. And after the incident, "you can understand President Obama being circumspect about visiting Israel," Cook said.