US urges Israel, Palestinians not to jeopardize talks

The White House on Thursday urged Israel and the Palestinians to avoid actions that jeopardize efforts to restart stalled peace talks as they feuded over a planned settlement expansion. Spokesman Jay Carney ducked a question on whether Israel's approval for the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem would make it harder to convince the Palestinians not to seek statehood at the United Nations. "Our position on that has not changed, which is that we urge both sides not to take any action that makes it harder for the two sides to come together and negotiate," he told reporters. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland echoed his remarks. "As we've said many times, unilateral action of this kind works against our efforts to get folks back to the table, makes it all more difficult," she said. "It undercuts trust," she added. Their comments came after Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai gave final approval to the construction of 1,600 units in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, drawing an angry response from the Palestinians. Yishai is expected to shortly approve 2,700 additional homes in two other east Jerusalem settlements. The 1,600-house project in Ramat Shlomo caused a diplomatic rift between Israel and Washington when it was first announced in March 2010, as US Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel and the Palestinian territories to lay the groundwork for new direct peace talks between the two sides. That announcement was criticized by Washington and led to a mini-crisis in ties between the close allies. Nuland said Washington has regularly raised the issue with Israel. "We have raised these concerns with the Israeli government, and we will continue to do so," she said.