Biden sees 'moment of opportunity' for Mid-East peace

Joe Biden is the most senior Obama administration official to visit Israel

US Vice-President Joe Biden has said there is a "moment of real opportunity" for peace between the Palestinians and Israel during a visit to the region.

Mr Biden said he hoped the agreement to begin indirect talks would be a vehicle by which both sides could "allay that layer of mistrust that has built up".

He made the comments before meetings with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.

Hours before Mr Biden's arrival, Israel enraged Palestinians by approving 112 new homes in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to undermine the talks.

'Proximity talks'

At the start of the highest-level visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories yet by an Obama administration official, Mr Biden said the agreement to hold four months of indirect, so-called "proximity talks" was a chance to revive the peace process.

"I hope it is a vehicle, a vehicle by which we can begin to allay that layer of mistrust that has built up in the last several years," he told reporters before meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres.