Politics over peace in the Middle East

RIGHT-WING Israeli obstruction of the pursuit of Middle East peace suggests political conservatives are convinced everything works pretty well as it is.

How else to explain the facile ease with which the Likud Party and others insulted U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden during his visit last week. Biden was in the region to revive talks — even indirect talks — between Israelis and Palestinians.

Biden and, apparently, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu were stunned by an announcement from the coalition government's interior minister that 1,600 new settlement houses would be built in east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu was embarrassed and apologized, but did not disavow a declaration calculated to drive the Palestinians away and offend and enrage Israel's opposition parties, who acknowledge a shared presence in Jerusalem is part of a future peace agreement.

Israel continues to settle occupied territory in violation of international law, and it keeps cashing those U.S. checks for billions of dollars in military aid. What would happen if a payment, oh, got lost in the mail?

Biden said the U.S. would not tolerate aggressive actions by either side to disrupt peace talks.

"As we move forward, the United States will hold both sides accountable for any statements or actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks, as this decision did," Biden said when he met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The U.S. commits billions of dollars to the reinforcement of a regional stalemate best summed up by the universal observation of former House Speaker Tip O'Neill: "All politics is local."

In the absence of local interest or progress, or outside leverage, does the U.S. spigot ever get turned off?