Israeli Settlement Proposal Angers U.S. Officials

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the move an insult to the U.S. and its efforts to help mediate often tense and violent relations in the area. 
 
In a statement, the State Department said the announcement sent a deeply negative signal about Israel's relationship with the United States and that it was counter to "the spirit of the vice president's trip."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized for the timing of the announcement but also said that "building these Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem does not hurt the Arabs of East Jerusalem or come at their expense."

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the decision is "not only an obstacle to peace; this is an attempt to undermine the efforts, the American efforts, to revive the peace process."

Protestors clashed with Israeli police last week, despite a lockdown on the contested areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Settlements issue key to Arab-Israel conflict

	Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports Israelis who relocate to Palestinian-occupied areas.

Since Israel annexed East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, also known as the Six-Day War, Israeli government officials have supported Israeli civilians who move into villages and towns occupied by Palestinians. 
 
Although international law says the annexation and the subsequent settlements are illegal, nearly 500,000 Jews live in walled-off groups of houses scattered throughout the mainly Palestinian areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 
 
The Israeli government views some settlements as legitimate for political or religious reasons while Palestinians see the growth of Israeli settlements as a slap in the face and an effort to end their hope of a sovereign Palestinian state that is separate from Israel.

Violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in settlement communities is common. 
 
Backed by the Obama administration, Palestinians have demanded that the Israeli government put a stop to any expansion of settlements, but so far, Israel has only agreed to slow down their growth.  

Proposed solutions to land disputes

	Click here for a more detailed map of Israel and the region surrounding it.

International support for a Jewish homeland after the Holocaust helped lead to the establishment of Israel in 1948 in the Palestine region, made up of what is now Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and part of Jordan. Since then, the country has had an ongoing and often violent conflict with the Palestinian people and neighboring Arab countries. 
 
Territorial conflicts over the settlements are a central part of the tensions, with many parties disagreeing on who has the right to control certain areas - especially those around the holy city of Jerusalem. 
 
The U.S. currently supports a "two-state solution," in which both a Palestinian and Israeli state could coexist side-by-side. 
 
"Building peace and security between a Jewish democratic state of Israel and a viable independent Palestinian state is profoundly in Israel interest," Vice President Joe Biden said. 

U.S.-Israel relationship

	Vice President Biden's visit to Israel resulted in tension between the two countries, which have a historically longstanding and strong relationship.

Some Middle East experts believe the recent flare-up in tensions between the U.S. and Israel is not good for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

"The anger of the American government has a psychological effect on Israeli public opinion which fears a deterioration of relations,'' former Israeli ambassador to the European Union, Avi Primor, told The Christian Science Monitor. "The U.S. is Israel's biggest security asset. There is a cost of alienating that asset.'' 
 
The U.S. has historically placed great importance on the relationship between the two countries and views its friendship with Israel as vital to its political and military interests in the Middle East region. Israel receives more aid from the U.S. than any other country. 
 
But Israelis and Israeli supporters in the U.S. have worried about the Obama administration's break from the foreign policy of the Bush administration. He has yet to visit Jerusalem and has made several noted attempts to reach out to the Arab world.