Vice President Joe Biden is arriving in Israel today, one day after the Palestinians agreed to indirect talks with Israel for the first time since the Israeli assault on Gaza. Biden is the most senior US official to visit Israel since President Obama took office in January 2009. Earlier today, Israel approved the construction of 112 new homes in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank despite a partial moratorium on such construction. The Israeli group Peace Now criticized the new project, saying it would “widen the gap with the Palestinians and the two-state solution, which risks becoming obsolete.” The Palestinians have warned that further settlement growth threatened the peace process and future talks. US Special Envoy George Mitchell praised the resumption of the talks.

George Mitchell: “We look forward to what we hope will be a credible, serious, constructive process that will accomplish the objective which we all share: comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”