JERUSALEM  (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday he must work to repair relations with Washington after a debacle over Jewish settlements that has undermined US efforts to mediate new peace talks with the Palestinians.

Clinton’s blunt language betrayed US frustration after a visit by Vice President Joe Biden was overshadowed by Israel’s approval of new Jewish building on occupied land.

She reminded Netanyahu of the commitments the United States makes to protect Israel from hostile neighbours, her spokesman said.

On a day when Israeli forces sealed off the West Bank and deployed riot squads around Jerusalem’s holy sites to contain Palestinian anger during weekly Muslim prayers, Clinton called the latest settlement approval a “deeply negative signal about Israel’s approach to the bilateral relationship … and had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process.”

Biden’s visit this week had been billed as reassuring the Jewish state that President Barack Obama’s administration would deal with the threat Israel perceives from Iran’s nuclear programme — as well as setting the presidential seal on a deal to end a 15-month hiatus in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Instead, hours after Biden spoke of Obama’s commitment to Israel’s security in the face of threats from Tehran, Israel’s Interior Ministry gave approval for 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in a part of the West Bank annexed to Jerusalem.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Clinton’s spokesman, PJ Crowley, said, “The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States’ strong commitment to Israel’s security.

“She made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate not just through words but through specific actions that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process,” Crowley said, describing Clinton as “frustrated.”

There was no immediate reaction from the Israeli government.

Clinton visits Moscow next week for a meeting of the quartet of Middle East mediators — Russia, the European Union, United Nations and United States — that are sponsoring peace efforts.

Speaking in New York during talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Clinton said the Moscow meeting would be an opportunity “to take stock of the progress that has been made in moving toward relaunching negotiations.”

Since taking office at the head of a right-leaning coalition a year ago, Netanyahu has had a fraught relationship with Obama and his administration, not least as a result of the premier’s public skepticism about the early prospects for establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu’s domestic critics, particularly to his left, had already voiced alarm his coalition’s dependence on settler groups was causing him to risk damaging the US partnership on which Israel’s security and economy partly depend.

In Maariv newspaper, prominent columnist Ben Caspit warned: “High-ranking American officials said this week Israel was not behaving like an ally of the United States. There is no worse thing to say at such a critical time, when Iran is charging into the last stretch on its way to the nuclear bomb.”

Netanyahu, whose fluent English and American education help make him a popular Israeli leader to many Americans, particularly among Obama’s right-wing opponents in Congress, is seeking to balance close US security ties with demands from supporters to keep expanding settlements in the West Bank.

Obama is seeking better US relations with the Arab world, which backs the Palestinians, as he seeks to bolster alliances in the oil-producing hub, notably against Iran as it develops nuclear technology and against Islamist enemies like al Qaeda.