Biden seeks fresh Middle East talks, pledges to protect Israel's security

The US has an "absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel's security," Biden said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel."

The US is due to lead indirect talks between Israel and Palestine in coming weeks,  which both sides have agreed to participate in.

These proximity talks are a means "to allay that layer of mistrust that has built up in the last several years," Biden said as he went into a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

"I think we are at a moment of real opportunity and I think that the interests of the Israeli and Palestinian people, if everybody stops and takes a deep breath, are actually more in line than they are opposites," he said.

Biden heads to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday for talks with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators will meet separately with US envoy George Mitchell.

Direct negotiations between the two sides have been on hold since Israel launched an offensive against the Gaza Strip in December 2008 to January 2009.

Shortly before Biden's arrival, Israel authorised 112 new homes to be built in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, to the anger of Palestinians who refuse to negotiate with the Israelis directly until they entirely halt all settlement building.

"We cannot tolerate that each time we have discussions on peace-making the Israeli government tenders more settlements, more incursions, more provocations," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told the AFP news agency on Monday.

Israel says the project in the Beitar Illit settlement near Bethlehem is an "exception" to the partial settlement freeze that its government announced in November.