WikiLeaks Distracts US From Mideast, Israel Claims
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JERUSALEM — Israel's defense minister claimed Tuesday that the WikiLeaks crisis was distracting Washington from efforts to restart Mideast peace talks. But the U.S. denied those efforts were on hold and countered sharply that perhaps Israel was distracted by fighting a wildfire.
Hours later, however, U.S. officials said they had abandoned efforts to reinstate a freeze on new building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, concluding that was not the best way to restart the talks.
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks restarted in September after a long hiatus but stumbled to a halt three weeks later after a 10-month Israeli moratorium on new construction in West Bank Jewish settlements expired – as Israel said all along it would – and the government refused to renew it.
Palestinians say they won't resume talks unless Israel halts all building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem – lands they want for part of their future state.
The U.S. had been pressing Israel to renew the moratorium in exchange for security and diplomatic assurances.
It was not clear whether any other formula was in the offing to resume the talks.
Ehud Barak told a parliamentary committee that talks with the American side have been postponed because Washington was busy dealing with the fallout from secret U.S. diplomatic documents released on the WikiLeaks website, as well as with tensions between North and South Korea.
"For now the matter has been stopped entirely, because of the Americans' lack of attention and concentration," Barak said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley denied that the U.S. was holding up the talks.
"The process has not stopped," he told reporters. "Our efforts are not suspended."
He pointedly said that perhaps it was Israel that was preoccupied with putting out a huge forest fire that burned until Sunday.
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Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
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TIA GOLDENBERG 12/ 7/10 04:15 PM ET Associated Press