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09 March 2010
Biden: Middle East Peace at Moment of “Real Opportunity”
Washington — Vice President Biden has welcomed the agreement by Israel and the Palestinians to hold indirect talks, saying renewed contact between the two parties will help reduce the level of mistrust between them and lead to a solution that gives both sides peace and secure, recognized borders.
Speaking in Jerusalem March 9 with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Biden said the interests of Israelis and Palestinians are “very much more in line than they are in opposition” and called on both sides to “step back and take a deep breath.”
During his earlier visits to the region during his long career in the U.S. Senate, Biden said, “the idea that we would speak with certitude about a two-state solution wasn’t so obvious.”
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process always had two components, he said, with “the actual definition of a state by borders and sovereign immunity and sovereign capabilities, but also the actual stuff of which a state is made. Institutions, everything from security forces to tax collection capability and everything in between.” That process “is under way,” he added.
Israel and the Palestinians “are at a moment of real opportunity,” the vice president said.
Biden also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu March 9 and will meet in Ramallah March 10 with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. He will also deliver a speech at Tel Aviv University March 11 before traveling to Jordan March 12.
In a March 8 media note, Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell said both sides are discussing “the structure and scope” of the indirect talks. The Obama administration, Mitchell said, hopes the talks “will lead to direct negotiations as soon as possible.”
Mitchell returned to Washington for discussions with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and plans to return to the Middle East the week of March 14.
“We also again encourage the parties, and all concerned, to refrain from any statements or actions which may inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of these talks,” Mitchell said.
Israel announced March 9 that it plans new housing in East Jerusalem. In a March 9 statement, Vice President Biden condemned the decision, saying that unilateral action “cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations on permanent status issues,” such as Jerusalem.
“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. We must build an atmosphere to support negotiations, not complicate them,” Biden said.
Israel’s announcement also “underscores the need to get negotiations under way that can resolve all the outstanding issues of the conflict,” Biden said, adding that good faith negotiations can reach an outcome that will realize the aspirations both sides have for Jerusalem.
