Abbas

(AP) RAMALLAH, West Bank - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has told the Palestinians that they deserve a "viable" independent state with contiguous territory.

Biden's comments on Wednesday appeared aimed at reassuring the Palestinians of U.S. support a day after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem. The Israeli move has overshadowed Biden's visit, which is meant to promote U.S.-led peace negotiations that are set to begin in the coming weeks.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Israel apologized Wednesday for disrupting the visit of Vice President Joe Biden with its announcement of 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem, but made clear it had no intention of reversing the order that has cast a shadow over the latest U.S. push for Mideast peace.

As Biden held talks with top Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose office announced the new construction on lands Palestinians claim for a future state, said the problem was about timing, not substance.

After a year of grandiose declarations on Mideast peace prospects and a gazillion trips to the region by US Envoy George Mitchell, the Obama administration has come up with this?

"Proximity Talks." Look it up in the Dictionary of Realpolitik and you will find the following: "Negotiations going nowhere fast. Wear seatbelts lest the speed of self-destruction spins you off the earth's axis."

JERUSALEM — Israel authorized the construction of 112 new apartments in the West Bank despite a pledge to slow down settlement building, the government disclosed Monday – enraging the Palestinians just a day after they reluctantly agreed to resume peace talks.

Proximity talks between Palestinians, Israelis and U.S. negotiators will begin next week, but I'm not hopeful, in large measure because the parties have never been further apart and confidence in the U.S. has been diminished.

Israeli heritage, Jewish heritage or both?

The most worrisome aspect of the decision by the Israeli government to recognize various West Bank-based sites as part of Israel's heritage is the conflation of the state of Israel and the Jewish religion.

Talks have recently been underway to arrange a summit meeting in Rome this April between President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The talks have reportedly been carried out without the involvement or even the knowledge of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Abbas has persistently refused to meet.
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The Palestinian president warned Tuesday that the region could plunge into a "religious war" over Israel's plans to recognize a disputed West Bank shrine as one of its own national heritage sites.
Read more: Palestine, West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas, Religion, Religious War,

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday that Israel's decision to add West Bank sites to the national heritage list is a dangerous provocation that may bring about a religious war, Israel Radio reported.
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JERUSALEM — The Palestinian president warned Tuesday that the region could plunge into a "religious war" over Israel's plans to recognize a disputed West Bank shrine as one of its own national heritage sites.