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JERUSALEM : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday sought to project calm amid a deepening crisis with the United States, seen as the worst rift between the close allies in decades.
"We opened the papers this morning and saw the analyses and reviews. I suggest we not get carried away, and calm down," Netanyahu said ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting.
"We know how to deal with situations like these, calmly, responsibly and seriously," he said.
Israel had thought the crisis - provoked by an announcement of plans for 1,600 new settler homes in mostly Arab east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden - was over following a public apology issued on Thursday.
But the United States signalled over the weekend that things were far from business as usual.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton berated Netanyahu in a 43-minute phone conversation before telling the press the move was "insulting," and sent a "deeply negative signal" about Israel's ties to its top ally.
"The crisis is still in full force and has reached new heights. It appears to be far more severe than anything we've known in the past decade, and perhaps even longer," Israel's Maariv newspaper said in an editorial.
Israel has always viewed the United States as its most important ally and has seen it as a crucial partner in confronting Iran's nuclear drive, which the Jewish state sees as its greatest strategic threat.
Analysts said the crisis was a result of Netanyahu trying to manoeuvre one too many times between his mostly right-wing governing coalition and the United States, which has been pushing him toward peace talks with the Palestinians.
"It is a very serious crisis. During his first year Netanyahu manoeuvred in a very sophisticated way, walking on a tightrope like acrobat, and I think this is the first time he fell from the rope," said Alon Liel, a former Israeli foreign ministry director.
"It still remains to be seen how painful it will be," he told AFP. "We have come to a moment of truth and Netanyahu has to make up his mind if he is serious about honestly responding to US and international demands."
The announcement over the settlements last week dealt a heavy blow to months of US-led efforts to relaunch peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians that were last suspended during the December 2008 to January 2009 Gaza war.
Media reports said the US and Israel had reached a secret understanding that Israel would refrain from announcing new east Jerusalem building projects during the talks, in conjunction with an already agreed public commitment to freeze new building starts in the West Bank for 10 months.
The presence of nearly a half million Israelis in more than 120 settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem has long been a major obstacle to the peace process.
In an attempt at damage control, Netanyahu set up a committee to investigate the settlement announcement, allegedly made without his knowledge, and prevent its recurrence.
On the ground, Israel has extended until Tuesday a lockdown on the West Bank and kept access restricted to the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem as tensions soar over the latest settlement plans. - AFP/ms
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