Clinton warns Netanyahu that U.S.-Israeli relationship is at risk

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 12, 2010; 3:14 PM
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday that the U.S.-Israeli relationship is at risk unless Israel took immediate steps to demonstrate it was interested in renewing efforts at a Middle East peace agreement.
Clinton's phone call, made in the wake of the embarrassment suffered by Vice President Biden this week when Israel announced it would build 1,600 housing units in a disputed area of Jerusalem, was an unusually tough message for the longtime U.S. ally. It came two days after Biden condemned the action while in Israel, and demonstrated that Netanyahu's efforts to mollify the administration have fallen short. He has claimed that he did not know the announcement was coming but has not canceled the project.
Relations with Israel have been strained during the Obama administration, and Biden's trip was intended as a fence-mending mission. Now it has led to the biggest crisis between the two countries in years.
Clinton called the prime minister "to make clear the United States considered the announcement a deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship and counter to the spirit of the vice president's trip," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters at his regular news briefing. Clinton, he said, reinforced "this action had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process and in America's interests."
Crowley added: "The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States' strong commitment to Israel's security, and she made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not just through words but through specific actions that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process."
Special Envoy George Mitchell has struggled to relaunch peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. Last week, he succeeded in getting the two sides to agree to indirect talks, with Mitchell shuttling between them, but that has been put at risk after the Israeli announcement.