Washington, March 25: Israeli-Palestinian tensions are affecting US national security interests in the region, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
His comments at a news conference came amid US frustration with Israel over its announced plans to expand illegal settlements in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem, which Washington says hurts Mideast peace efforts.
“The lack of progress toward Middle East peace is clearly an issue that’s exploited by our adversaries in the region” and “does affect US national security interests in the region,” Gates said
The stalled peace process was a “political challenge,” he said.
Gates was asked about recent testimony from General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command, who told a Senate hearing this month that the worsening Mideast conflict fed anti-American sentiment in the region “due to a perception of US favoritism for Israel.”
The Obama administration has expressed anger over Israel’s plans to build 1,600 new illegal units for Jewish settlers in Palestinian East Jerusalem, announced during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
Top officials have slammed the new construction and the timing of the announcement as insulting and destructive.
But Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said that ties between the US and Israeli armed forces remained strong.
Gates added that “the United States has considered peace in the Middle East to be a national security interest for decades.”
Netanyahu has shown no signs of caving in to US demands to halt expanding illegal Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, under occupation since 1967.
International law considers all Jewish settlements to be illegal because they are built on Arab (mainly Palestinian) land, as it is also inadmissible to acquire territory by war.
—Agencies