Israel's settlement project draws flak

Palestinians told US Vice-President Joe Biden yesterday that Israel's plan to build 1,600 homes for Jewish settlers challenged USA's efforts to get indirect peace talks underway.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli cabinet minister apologised for what he termed "real embarrassment" caused to Biden by the news on Tuesday that Israel would erect the housing units in an area of the West Bank it annexed to the holy city.

Biden condemned the project, whose announcement clouded a mission to Israel that had been focused on reassuring Israelis that President Barack Obama was committed to their security in the face of a possible Iranian nuclear threat. "This is a moment of great challenge to the effort by the US to get the political process going again," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said at a meeting with Biden. Fayyad said Israel's action was "damaging for sure" and "definitely undermines confidence in the prospects for peace.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said President Mahmoud Abbas would ask Biden to press Israel to revoke the settlement decision.