"Our relationship with the Americans is above all else. It is an alliance that has survived complicated periods, and I had no intention of harming those ties, or to challenge the American administration, or to present obstacles to this important visit by the vice president," Shas chairman and Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Thursday in an interview with Haaretz on the crisis with Washington over the decision to authorize 1,600 housing units in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo.
Yishai says that the whole situation was caused by an unfortunate coincidence: a visit by United States Vice President Joe Biden and the decision by the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee to authorize the plans for constructing Jewish homes in East Jerusalem.
The interior minister said that during the past two days the ministry assessed the lessons of the incident, so that similar occurrences will be avoided in the future.
As such, all relevant ministry officials were told that all matters pending at the committee that affect construction beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem should be brought to the minister's attention.
Yishai stressed that during "sensitive" visits, he would like to be informed of the deliberations taking place in the committee.
"No official is to blame," Yishai said, referring to Interior Ministry staff. "It was technical authorization only. The committee session was scheduled two weeks in advance, and no one in the committee knew that the vice president of the U.S. was coming."
"Those who may have known know that in Jerusalem there is no freeze on construction, so there was nothing unusual," Yishai added. "There was a mishap and no special importance should be attributed to it."
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked hard to publicly explain what was seen as an effort to spoil Biden's visit, Yishai was quick to stress that "In Jerusalem there is no construction freeze and therefore building will continue. Jerusalem, according to a cabinet decision, is not part of the freeze."
The Shas leader also expressed confidence that the matter will not have a detrimental effect on his relations with the prime minister or on coalition stability. "The integrity of the coalition is important to Shas, and I certainly have no intention of making the prime minister's life difficult or undermine the diplomatic process [with the Palestinians]. The prime minister has a genuine desire to push the process forward, and he is capable of bringing peace. I believe him and I suggest that instead of attacking him, help him. The demand should be made to the other side. It is up to the Palestinians, and I do not know whether they are capable of making decisions."