Israeli-Palestinian talks

In order to achieve long-term security, Israel also needs to realize permanent peace with the Arab world, paramountly with the Palestinians, who deserve a viable state, stressed the U.S. vice president, as he made a foray into the unwieldy Middle East peace process.

It started well. Shortly after his arrival on Monday, Obama's special envoy George Mitchell, who had been conducting talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials since Saturday night, officially announced in Jerusalem that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to commence indirect talks with himself acting as the intermediary.

The following day also went well, for the better part of it. Biden held affectionate meetings with President Shimon Peres and Netanyahu, lauded the peace-making measures taken by the two sides, and encouraged both parties to seize the opportunity of the indirect parley and continue moving in the right direction.

"I think we are at a moment of real opportunity," Biden said ahead of a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres. "I hope the beginning of indirect or proximity talks is a vehicle by which we can begin to allay that layer of mistrust that has built over the last several years."

"The goal is obviously to resolve the final status issues to achieve a two-state solution with Israel and a Palestine living side by side in peace and security," Biden stressed, adding that "an historic peace is going to require both parties to make some historically bold commitments."

Yet the positive atmosphere was suddenly swept out when the Israeli Interior Ministry announced its approval for the East Jerusalem building project on Tuesday night, generating waves of condemnation from the White House, the United Nations and across the rest of the world, and amounting to nothing less than a slap in the face of the guest of honor.

In an unusually harsh statement, the U.S. vice president, who came about 90 minutes late for a dinner with Netanyahu that night, lashed out at the announcement, which he said "underscores the need to get negotiations under way that can resolve all the outstanding issues of the conflict."

"The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I've had here in Israel," Biden said, reiterating his appeal to "build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them."

Netanyahu and his interior minister Eli Yishai later expressed apology for the "unfortunate timing" of the announcement, yet signalled no intention to cancel the decision.

Yishai, a right-wing party leader traditionally opposing concessions on the Jerusalem issue, said that the plan did not contradict an ongoing settlement construction restraint, which excludes East Jerusalem, the Arab-dominated section that the Palestinians claim to be the capital of their future state.

For his part, Netanyahu told Biden that the project was years away from its final approval and implementation.

The Israeli move threw Biden into obvious embarrassment when he held talks in the West Bank on Wednesday with indignant Palestinian leaders, who warned of grave consequences of the "provocative" decision. The Palestinians had already challenged U.S. peace-making efforts in the face of continued Israeli settlement expansion, and they adopted the U.S. proposal for indirect talks reluctantly.

Biden's chastisement of Israel, his blandishments in the West Bank and the Israeli apologies and explanations seemingly failed to work on the Palestinians, as Palestinian officials declared on Thursday that they had decided to put the indirect talks on hold until Israel rescinds its latest construction project.

Later Thursday, Biden travelled to Jordan for the last leg of his five-day Middle East tour, where he was expected to give another push for the intricate Middle East peace process.