Videocrux - Biden pledges full US commitment to Israel security

#Videocrux - Biden pledges full US commitment to Israel security Biden pledges full US commitment to Israel security
Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday pledged Washington's full commitment to Israel's security while throwing his weight behind a renewal of Middle East peace talks after a 14-month hiatus. Biden was speaking after after talks with hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
US pushing both sides for peace talks
Biden, the highest-ranking US official to visit Israel and the West Bank since President Barack Obama took office a year ago, also hailed the decision to hold new Middle East talks, despite deep scepticism about the prospects for success. Biden heads on Wednesday to the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Salam Fayyad, and he also plans to meet former British prime minister Tony Blair, the special envoy for the Quartet of key diplomatic players. Washington has pushed for months to have both sides resume talks but direct negotiations have been on hold since Israel launched a devastating 22-day military offensive against the Gaza Strip in December 2008. US envoy George Mitchell spent the past days in the region to pave the way for the indirect talks, and plans to return next week.
Israel plans to build 112 homes on West bank
Biden's visit coincided with an Israeli go-ahead for 112 new homes to be built in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, a move that infuriated the Palestinians who demand a complete settlement freeze. Israel said the project in the Beitar Illit settlement near Bethlehem was an exception to the partial halt of settlement activity that its government announced in November. Abbas took up the issue with Mitchell on Monday, according to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat. Biden, who is accompanied by his wife Jill, also visited the Mount Herzl national cemetery in Jerusalem, where he laid a wreath at the grave of former premier Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish extremist opposed to a peace deal with the Palestinians. He then headed to the nearby Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and was to travel on to Jordan on Thursday for talks with King Abdullah II.

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