US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday that his government sent a “deeply negative signal” by taking steps which undermined renewed Middle East peace talks. Clinton telephoned Netanyahu and expressed frustration over Israel's announcement Tuesday of new settlement construction, a move that deeply embarrassed visiting US Vice President Joe Biden and imperiled US plans to launch indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Clinton told Netanyahu the announcement was a “deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship ... and had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process.”“The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States' strong commitment to Israel's security,” Crowley said. “She made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not just through words but through specific actions that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process,” he said. The “quartet” of Middle East peace mediators – the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- Friday issued its own condemnation of the settlement plan and said it would assess the situation at a previously scheduled meeting in Moscow next week. “The Quartet has agreed to closely monitor developments in Jerusalem and to keep under consideration additional steps that may be required to address the situation on the ground,” the group said in a statement, without providing details. Clinton's rebuke of Netanyahu capped a week of tense exchanges between the United States and Israel, which Tuesday announced it was building 1,600 new settler homes in an area of the occupied West Bank it annexed to Jerusalem. The announcement infuriated the West Bank-based Palestinian leadership, which threatened to pull out of US-brokered indirect “proximity” talks with Israel that Washington hoped would be the first step toward relaunching full peace negotiations after more than a year. Meanwhile, Israel is moving to amend the country's planning procedures on sensitive political decisions following an embarrassing diplomatic flap during a visit this week by US Vice President Joe Biden, a Cabinet minister said Friday. The change endorsed by a parliamentary legislation committee Thursday will require a representative of the prime minister to be present when development plans are approved. The change aims to ensure the country's leader is not caught off guard by politically charged decisions, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was by the approval of 1,600 new homes for Jews in east Jerusalem during Biden's visit.
