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Annoyed by rude Rice remarks, Israeli officials dismiss her as irrelevant
By Israel Insider staff June 16, 2008
Senior Israeli officials, offended by the US Secretary Condoleezza Rice's strident stance against building of homes for Jews in east Jerusalem, anonymously express defiance. In unusual language for the Israel-US relationship, the officials said that Condi's undiplomatic comments equating the government's decisions to the building homes in Israel's capital with "settlements" were regarded as of little consequence, "ruffling few feathers."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's harsh criticism of Israel's plan to continue building in east Jerusalem met with no panic and no formal response on Sunday, a sign -- one government source cited by the Jerusalem Post said -- that, with less than five months to the US elections, "it is not that important what she says anymore."
"Comments that in the past would have set everybody abuzz, are not making much waves today," the source said. He attributed this both to the waning days of George W. Bush's administration, and a growing realization that the chances of finalizing any "shelf agreement" with the Palestinians by the end of 2008 are slim, largely because of the political instability in Israel.
Political considerations -- especially the legal troubles of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the likelihood of early election later this year -- made signing a final-status agreement with the Palestinians highly unlikely.
The source said that Rice's comments against construction of "settlements" in east Jerusalem indicated frustration that after 21 visits to the region as secretary of state, she was facing the prospect of leaving office in January with empty hands.
Rice, during each of her public appearances on Sunday, rapped Israeli construction. Before meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in the morning, Rice said, "I've told the foreign minister that I will also raise the issue of settlements, because I'm very concerned that at a time when we need to build confidence between the parties, the continued building and the settlement activity has the potential to harm the negotiations going forward."
On the eve of her arrival, the Interior Ministry announced plans on Friday to build 1,300 homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, just beyond Jerusalem's 1967 lines. And the Jerusalem Municipality announced that a city plan to build tens of thousands of new apartments over the next 12 years, including a couple of thousand in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem (including those 1,300), had received final approval.
Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said Israel drew a clear distinction between building in Jerusalem, and building in West Bank areas over which the government would have no territorial claims. "It is clear that the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem will remain part of Israel," he said. "It is not realistic that we freeze the lives of people in Jerusalem."
Despite Israel's dismantling of dozens of checkpoints, each supervised by a US official, she still complained about IDF roadblocks set up for security reasons, and Israel's failure to remove unauthorized settlement outposts. "I recognize that we haven't made the progress that we would like to in terms of movement and access and removal of barriers," she said. "Particularly, I am concerned about the outposts, which are illegal, even under Israeli law, and so I would hope to see more movement."
Dani Dayan, head of the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, attacked Rice's comments. She was "impertinent and insolent" to scold Israel for housing its citizens in the capital, Dayan said, adding that "most of the blame lies with the government of Olmert and Tzipi Livni, who allowed the US to spit in Israel's face and considered the spittle "raindrops."
"When the Olmert-Livni government began, it prided itself on an understanding with the US president over the future of the settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria. It's a sign of this government's failure that within two years it has managed to lose international support even over [Jerusalem neighborhoods such as] Gilo, Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev," Dayan said.
It should have been clear to Olmert and to Livni that a construction freeze in Judea and Samaria would only shift the diplomatic struggle to Jerusalem, he said. Now the construction of a porch in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Eshkol has become a matter of urgent debate in the United Nations, Dayan said.
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