JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister expressed regret Sunday for a crisis with the United States over plans to expand a Jewish neighbourhood in east Jerusalem, even as American officials played down the apology and called for bold Israeli action to get peace efforts back on track.
With tensions rising, Israel deployed hundreds of police around east Jerusalem’s Old City and heavily restricted Palestinian access to the area — the scene of several recent clashes.
Israel’s already strained relationship with the U.S. hit a new low last week when the Jewish state announced plans during a visit by Vice-President Joe Biden to build 1,600 homes for Israelis in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as their capital.
The announcement embarrassed Biden, who quickly condemned the plan, and cast a shadow over upcoming U.S.-mediated peace talks.
In his first public comments on the matter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet Sunday that he was sorry about the diplomatic fiasco and had ordered an investigation into the incident. Netanyahu has claimed he had no prior knowledge.
“There was a regrettable incident that was done in all innocence and was hurtful, and which certainly should not have occurred,” Netanyahu said.
At the same time, he urged his Cabinet “not to get carried away and to calm down” and gave no sign he would scrap the settlement plan.
“We will act according to the interests of the state of Israel,” he said.
The fate of east Jerusalem is the most explosive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel captured the area in the 1967 Mideast war and considers the entire city its capital. Netanyahu has said he will never agree to share control of the holy city.
The Palestinians claim the eastern sector — home to sensitive Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites — as the capital of a future state that would include the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem has not been internationally recognized, and the international community, including the U.S., considers the ring of Jewish neighbourhoods Israel has built to be illegal settlements.