If the generally positive relationship between Israel and the United States seems especially strained at the moment, there’s good reason for the estrangement. For the second time in a month, high-level meetings between U.S. and Israeli officials have been nearly undone by an announcement that the Jewish state would build new housing in disputed territory in east Jerusalem. The announcements contradict U.S. policy on the issue and decrease the likelihood of meaningful peace talks with Palestinians, who claim the territory as their own.
It’s hard to believe the timing of the housing proclamations are coincidental. The first occurred a fortnight ago when Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel to shore up diplomatic ties with Israel and to promote indirect peace talks between Palestinians and Israel. The second came Tuesday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington to meet with President Barack Obama. The result in both instances was the same — a further souring in U.S.-Israeli relations and more impediments to talk of peace in the Mideast.
Mr. Obama pledged during his campaign that he would promote such discussions, and he’s tried to do so. He’s also made it clear that he opposes Israel’s settlement policies. The criticism did not sit well with Israelis or their supporters in the United States. Indeed, many view the new housing projects as Israel’s public way of rejecting U.S. pressure on the issue.
There’s no need for such action. Quiet negotiation is the better path. The United States remains Israel’s staunchest ally, a point made by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in a speech Monday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby. She told the audience that U.S. support for Israel is solid, that it will continue and that the nearly $3 billion annually that Israel receives from the United States is proof of that commitment. That’s not all she said.
She added that “unilateral statements and actions” — like new settlement construction — is counterproductive to the pursuit of peace, to U.S. strategic interests and to Israel’s own security. It was a strong message, but her words found little favor. Mr. Netanyahu was greeted far more warmly when he addressed the group later.
The prime minister said Israel would continue to sanction the building of homes in Jerusalem. “Jerusalem is our capital. It’s not a settlement,” he said. He no doubt reiterated that sentiment to Mr. Obama, though the precise content and tone of their conversation is unknown.
Whatever the result of Mr. Netanyahu’s talks with Mr. Obama, it’s impossible for the former to obscure the fact that Israeli settlement policy, inspired in part by domestic political needs, continues to isolate Israel in the global community, infuriate even moderate Arab governments and directly and indirectly undermine both its own and the United States’ security interests. By any measure, that’s bad policy that requires revision .