March 15, 2010

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee called on the Obama administration to take steps to defuse tension with Israel, while Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. said bilateral relations are in crisis.

“The Obama Administration’s recent statements regarding the U.S. relationship with Israel are a matter of serious concern,” said the statement released Sunday.

The AIPAC statement came after a weekend of U.S. officials’ recriminations and demands following an Israeli ministry’s announcement last week during a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that it had given preliminary approval for the construction of 1,600 apartments in a fervently Orthodox eastern Jerusalem neighborhood. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized profusely to the vice president, who accepted the apology.

“The Administration should make a conscious effort to move away from public demands and unilateral deadlines directed at Israel, with whom the United States shares basic, fundamental, and strategic interests,” continued the statement.

“The escalated rhetoric of recent days only serves as a distraction from the substantive work that needs to be done with regard to the urgent issue of Iran’s rapid pursuit of nuclear weapons, and the pursuit of peace between Israel and all her Arab neighbors.”

Both Netanyahu, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who publicly called the incident “an insult to the United States,” are scheduled to speak at AIPAC’s annual policy conference in Washington next week. President Barack Obama had been scheduled to be out of town during the conference; Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with either Biden or Clinton during his stay in Washington.

Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, told Israeli diplomats in a conference call Saturday night that bilateral relations between Israel and the United States have hit their lowest point since 1975, according to Israeli news reports.

Haaretz quoted diplomats on the call with Oren as saying that “the crisis was very serious and we are facing a very difficult period in relations.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Israeli public to “not get carried away” following harsh words from the U.S. secretary of state over plans to build new housing in eastern Jerusalem.

“We look at this morning’s newspapers and read all kinds of comments and analyses,” Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s Cabinet meeting. “First of all, I suggest that we not get carried away—and that we calm down.

“We know how to deal with these situations—with equanimity, responsibly and seriously. There was a regrettable incident that was done in all innocence and was hurtful, and which certainly should not have occurred.”

Netanyahu also appointed a committee to study the chain of events leading up to last week’s announcement of the approval of 1,6000 housing units in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo during a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

The committee also will establish guidelines for ministries and municipalities to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the incident “an insult to the United States.”

Her statement last Friday came after she scolded Netanyahu in a 43-minute telephone conversation that morning for the housing announcement incident.

Clinton told CNN later in the day that U.S.-Israeli relations were not at risk over the incident.

Also Friday, the U.S. State Department summoned Israel’s U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren for a meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, who reprimanded Oren and criticized Israel’s actions. Steinberg called on Israel to take steps to gain the Palestinians’ trust so that U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell could begin indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Netanyahu had apologized to Biden for the incident on Thursday, and the vice president accepted the apology.

The Palestinian Authority reportedly has said that it will not resume any kind of talks with Israel, including the agreed-upon proximity talks, unless Mitchell brings a promise that Israel will cancel the housing plan for eastern Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is not part of the 10-month West Bank building freeze set by Netanyahu at the end of November. Netanyahu has decried the timing of the announcement of the Ramat Shlomo approval, but has not said that they should be canceled.

Final approval reportedly will take another year and building will not commence for several years, according to reports.

Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has told the country’s diplomats there that U.S.-Israeli relations face their worst crisis in 35 years, despite attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to project a sense of “business as usual.”

Oren was speaking to Israeli consuls general in a conference call on Saturday night. Sunday, Netanyahu continued to consult with the forum of seven senior cabinet ministers over a list of demands that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made in a telephone conversation Friday.

Clinton harshly criticized the announcement last week of plans to expand the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in East Jerusalem while U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel.

Read the full story at HAARETZ.com.