The Biden Affair: VP spits fire at Israel

Vice President Biden issued this unusually harsh rebuke for an ally:
"I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem. 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."

Ramat Shlomo Neighborhood of Jerusalem

Netanyahu Regrets "Timing" of Announcement -Barak Ravid

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that the timing of the Jerusalem Committee's announcement of a plan to build 1,600 new housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo [pictured above], issued on the same day U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in the region, was "a serious mishap...that should not have happened."

Israel apologized for embarrassing Biden with the timing of its announcement, but made clear it has no intention of reversing its plan.
(Ha'aretz)


Residents Don't Understand the Commotion -Abe Selig

A resident of the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in northeast Jerusalem, commenting on the announcement of 1,600 new housing units, said:

"[Former Jerusalem Mayor] Teddy Kollek...would be turning over in his grave right now if he knew that this was even being debated....If we can't build here, then tell me, please, where can we build?"

Eli Diskin, a Ramat Shlomo resident, said that 1,600 new housing units "wouldn't even be enough" to deal with the overflowing population of the neighborhood. "If someone gets married, if they have more kids, where are they supposed to go? They have to leave the neighborhood."

"If this is not an inseparable part of Jerusalem, than what is?" asked Pini Gamliel.

Mendy Hechtman said American diplomats should come and see the neighborhood for themselves. "Once you get here, you can easily see that this is simply another neighborhood in Jerusalem, but the media makes it seem like this is some kind of far-removed settlement."
(Jerusalem Post)


Biden's Visit and Construction in Jerusalem

Daniel Gordis:

Insisting that Israelis freeze settlement expansion without making some equally explicit demand of the Palestinians - and using the same term "settlement" for both massive neighborhoods that are home to tens of thousands, and for illegal outposts - Obama has convinced Israelis that he has no command of the issues, and that he is predisposed to pressuring Israel much more than the Palestinians.
(New York Times)


Slanting News on Jerusalem -Jonathan Tobin

That the announcement was probably a ploy on the part of Netanyahu’s coalition partners to embarrass the prime minister and limit his maneuvering room, is little consolation to those who already had reason to worry about the shaky nature of the Obama’s administration’s support for Israel.

However, concern about the foolish timing of the announcement in no way diminishes Israel’s right to build homes in its own capital. Netanyahu rightly opposed extending the freeze on building in the West Bank to Jerusalem.

The problem here is that while Arabs and their supporters assume that keeping all Jews out of East Jerusalem is a prerequisite of Palestinian independence, no one questions the right of Israeli Arabs to live in any part of Jerusalem, including the sections that were under Israeli control from 1949 to 1967.

Thus, the hypocrisy is not on the part of Israel but rather its critics. So long as Arabs are free to buy and/or build in West Jerusalem, banning Jews from doing the same in the eastern part of the city that was illegally occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 is discriminatory.

And even if a peace deal were ever adopted in which parts of the city were given to a Palestinian state, why would the presence of Jews there prevent such a pact, since no responsible person would expect such an agreement to also specify the eviction of Arabs from Israel?
[Commentary Magazine]
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