WASHINGTON - The Obama administration's rebuke of new illegal Jewish settlements betrays growing frustration over the Middle East stalemate as the White House gropes for a way to revive peace negotiations, analysts said Wednesday.
President Barack Obama's administration appears to have hit a brick wall 10 months after it took office with a high-profile push to restart peace talks.
Israel's hardine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again ignored US calls to halt illegal Jewish settlements, as the Palestinian leadership appears weaker than ever.
Obama told Fox News, after Israel decided to build hundreds of new homes in annexed Palestinian East Jerusalem, that such homes embitter the Palestinians and make it harder for Israel to make peace with its neighbors and ensure its security.
Washington based-analyst Haim Malka said that Obama has toughened his remarks on settlements in the occupied West Bank, but it is "unclear at this point" whether it will bring results.
Israel plans to build 900 new homes in Gilo, one of a dozen illegal Jewish settlements in the eastern part of the Palestinian Holy City, which Israel has annexed in a move slammed by the international community.
Israeli news reports said Netanyahu had rejected a request from his US ally to halt construction in Gilo, but it was not clear whether the request concerned the project approved on Tuesday night.
Shibley Telhami, a Middle East analyst at the University of Maryland, said Obama had to make a strong statement on the Gilo project.
"The administration has been counseling privately against this project, and obviously it is seen as a direct challenge," Telhami said.
In May, the chief US diplomat had publicly demanded a total freeze to new illegal Israeli construction in the occupied West Bank as a precursor to new Mideast peace negotiations.
The Obama administration took a "clear cut" position from the start that settlements are illegal and its position "has not changed as much as it's portrayed to have changed."
But it has not quite obtained the confidence-building measures from Arabs needed to revive the negotiations.
Observers say Obama should threaten to cut military aid to Israel if Tel Aviv does not abide by international law.
All Jewish settlements are illegal under international law because they are built on Arab land (mainly Palestinian), illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.
Around 200,000 illegal Jewish settlers are estimated to have moved into the dozen or so Israeli settlements in Palestinian East Jerusalem.
There are about 300,000 more illegal Jewish settlers currently living in settlements the Palestinian West Bank.
The settlers adhere to radical ideologies and are extremely violent to almost-defenceless Palestinians.
Under international law, neither East nor West Jerusalem is considered Israel's capital. Tel Aviv is recognised as Israel's capital, pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.
East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions.
In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides.
Declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions.
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