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When Joe Biden visited Jerusalem to kick-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, all the US vice-president got was a kick in the teeth from his host, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

After a year of false starts, Barack Obama's administration had made Israeli and Palestinian leaders agree to discussions "“ not direct ones, but "proximity talks" through George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East. But the announcement that 1,600 new homes would be built in a Jewish Orthodox settlement in occupied East Jerusalem "“ just hours after Mr Biden reiterated the "absolute, total and unvarnished" US commitment to Israel's security "“ led Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, to cancel the...