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In a speech given yesterday at Tel Aviv University, Vice President Joe Biden cautioned against delays in the Israel Palestine peace process. Making his first trip to the region since taking office, Biden remarked that the “most important thing is for talks to go forward promptly and go forward in good faith.” Indirect proximity talks between all the parties have already been hampered by an announcement made on Monday by an Israeli Minister that new settlement construction projects in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have been approved. Palestinians condemned further expansions into occupied territory and reiterated that a freeze on such activity was a precondition for any negotiations. They have called on the United States to intervene and halt settlement plans. Vice President Joe Biden earlier denounced the project which calls for an additional 1,600 units in the West Bank, but he gave no indication in his Tel Aviv speech that the US would pressure Israel to reverse course. Instead, Biden mentioned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reassured him that it would take years before construction actually started and that Palestinians misunderstood Monday’s announcement. Meanwhile, the European Union, which recently endorsed the Goldstone Report on last year’s war on Gaza, condemned the settlement plan as illegal under international law and urged Israel to reverse its decision.

GUEST: Josh Ruebner National Advocacy Director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Find out more at www.endtheoccupation.org and www.aidtoisrael.org.