Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Ramadan
Fatwa Audios
Month of Mercy
Women
Eed Al- Fitr
Food Recipes
Videos
Israeli plans to build more homes near East Jerusalem are not helpful for the Middle East peace process, but the recent row over the issue does not amount to a crisis in US-Israeli relations, Barack Obama has said.
In his first public comments on the issue, the US president told the Fox News network on Wednesday that despite the recent spat over settlement construction, Israel remains "one of our closest allies".
He rejected a suggestion from the interviewer that the Israeli announcement had triggered a "crisis" in relations.
"We and the Israeli people have a special bond that's not going to go away," Obama said.
"But friends are going to disagree sometimes… There is a disagreement in terms of how we can move this peace process forward."
Last week Israel touched off one of the worst rows with the US in many years when it announced during a visit by Joe Biden, Obama's vice president, that it planned to build 1,600 more homes for Jews near East Jerusalem.
The announcement from the Israeli interior ministry was an embarrassment for Biden who had been dispatched to the region by Obama in an effort to restart talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.
"I specifically sent Vice President Biden to Israel to send a message of support and reassurance about my belief that Israel's security is sacrosanct and that we have a host of shared interests," Obama told Fox News.
The US president's first comments on the row came as his administration awaited a response from Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to Washington's sharp complaints over the episode.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, condemned the Israeli plans as "insulting" to peace efforts and reportedly called on Netanyahu to reverse the decision.
'Rebuild trust'
However, in Wednesday's interview Obama appeared to look to ease tensions, noting that the announcement on the new settler homes came from the Israeli interior ministry and that Netanyahu had apologized.
"The actions that were taken by the interior minister in Israel weren't helpful to [the peace] process. Prime Minister Netanyahu acknowledged as much and apologized for it," he said.
Israel regards all of Jerusalem, including the mainly Arab eastern sector it occupied 43 years ago, as its capital.
Palestinians however, want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
PHOTO CAPTION
Israeli troops run toward Palestinian stone-throwers (not seen) during clashes in the Shuafat refugee camp in the West Bank near Jerusalem March 16, 2010.
Al-Jazeera
Prayer Times
Prayer times for Doha, Qatar 
