Starboard Broadside

During a trip to Israel, Barack Obama's handy attack dog, Joe Biden, ripped into Israeli plans to approve a new expansion of illegal settlements in contested East Jerusalem:

US Vice-President Joe Biden has condemned Israel's approval of 1,600 new homes for ultra-Orthodox Jews in East Jerusalem.

Mr Biden, in Israel as part of US attempts to kick-start the peace process, said it was "the kind of step that undermines the trust we need".

From his statement:

"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."

He said the Israelis and Palestinians needed to build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them, adding: "This announcement underscores the need to get negotiations under way that can resolve all the outstanding issues of the conflict."

It's damn good somebody high in the US government finally said this to their faces, and I hope the Administration sticks by him, which looks likely since this was a prepared statement. Basically, the settlements issue, which we've looked at several times on this blog, will be the the make-or-break issue for the peace process. The Israeli government knows exactly what it's doing here, and unless they stop all settlement expansions, there won't be a peace process for much longer -- or at least not one involving Israel (there's been talk of Europe recognizing a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence within a year or two).

For more on the actual inhabitants of the ultra-Orthodox settlements, see this post I did last July, on the similarities and differences between them and the non-Orthodox settlers.