Obama: Gilo construction does not make Israel safer, hampers U.S. peace efforts

U.S. President Barack Obama said yesterday a plan to build hundreds of home in East Jerusalem would complicate efforts by his administration to relaunch peace talks and embitter the Palestinians.

The government announced Tuesday it would green light the construction of 900 homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, drawing international condemnation.

Obama told Fox News in an interview Wednesday that additional settlement building doesn't make Israel safer. He said such moves make it harder to achieve peace in the region, and embitters the Palestinians in a dangerous way.

"The situation in the Middle East is very difficult, and I've said repeatedly and I'll say again, Israel's security is a vital national interest to the United States, and we will make sure they are secure," Obama said in the interview.

Obama and the Palestinians have demanded that Israel halt settlement construction.

Also yesterday, former Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would soon announce a 10-month freeze on settlement building.

The move would be a bid to renew peace talks with the Palestinian Authority, which has refused to negotiate with Israel while it continues to build in the West Bank.

But Beilin was quoted as adding that he believed Netanyahu would not propose a halt to construction in Jerusalem.

An aide to Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed U.S. anger at Israel's approval for the new homes in Gilo. Netanyahu's aide said the building plan was "a routine process."

He said Netanyahu saw Gilo as "an integral part of Jerusalem. Construction in Gilo has taken place regularly for dozens of years and there is nothing new about the current planning and construction," the aide added.

Netanyahu seemed keen to contain the fresh dispute with Washington over settlements, ordering cabinet ministers to show restraint after the White House criticized the plan.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also deplored the Israeli move, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said. Ban "believes that such actions undermine efforts for peace and cast doubt on the viability of the two-state solution" for Israelis and Palestinians, Haq said.

The European Union on Wednesday joined the chorus of international criticism of an Israeli plan to build hundreds of new housing units in East Jerusalem, saying the move hampered talks over the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"The presidency of the European Union is dismayed by the recent decision on the expansion of the settlement of Gilo," said a statement by the Swedish Presidency.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the building plan, saying it "destroys the last chances for the peace process."

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told an Israeli radio station that Netanyahu "has the choice - settlements or peace," and accused Israel of trying to decide the conflict by building instead of at the negotiating table.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, visiting Jerusalem, said France regretted Israel's decision.

President Shimon Peres said during a meeting with Kouchner that Israel knew what the U.S. and French position was on Jerusalem but said that only negotiations could resolve differences.

"I know that the American position on Jerusalem is not new, and your position is not new but in spite of it we are negotiating and making progress, we should not give up," Peres told Kouchner.

MK Danny Danon (Likud) lashed out at Obama yesterday, as the lawmaker participated in ground-breaking ceremony for a new housing complex for Jews in East Jerusalem.

"President Obama should not interfere with the rights of the Jewish people to live in Jerusalem," Danon said. "This ... is a racist demand, saying that Jews cannot live in Jerusalem, only Arabs."