Housing Plan Harms Ties, Clinton Tells Netanyahu.

WASHINGTON -- In a tense, 43-minute phone call on Friday morning, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel's plan for new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem sent a ''deeply negative signal'' about Israeli-American relations, and not just because it spoiled a visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Biden, in Israel this week to declare American support for its security, had already condemned the move as undermining the peace process. But Mrs. Clinton went a good deal further in her conversation with Mr. Netanyahu, saying it had harmed ''the bilateral relationship,'' according to the State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]