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Clinton berates Netanyahu over settlements
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Clinton berates Netanyahu over settlements
Alastair Macdonald
JERUSALEM
Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:17pm EST
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington in this February 24, 2010 file photo.
Credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday he must work to repair relations with Washington after a debacle over Jewish settlements that has undermined U.S. efforts to mediate new peace talks with the Palestinians.
World | Barack Obama
Clinton's blunt language betrayed U.S. 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 neighbors, 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 program -- 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, P.J. 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.
BIDEN UPBEAT ON PEACE TALKS
Biden, in an interview with Reuters on Friday aboard his plane, Air Force Two, sounded upbeat about the prospects of launching indirect peace talks mediated by the United States despite tensions over Israel's announcement.
Asked whether he believed Netanyahu was "sincere" about negotiating peace with the Palestinians, he said, "Yes, I do."
He said Netanyahu understood Israel had "no alternative."
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 during talks with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York, 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 the Obama administration, not least as a result of his 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 U.S. 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 U.S. security ties with demands from supporters to keep expanding settlements in the West Bank.
Obama is seeking better U.S. 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.
Breaking the stalemate on a Palestinian state after 20 years of talking might help challenge Arab perceptions that Washington is in thrall to Israel, some analysts believe, although Israel's strong support in Congress tends to limit U.S. pressure on it.
"Perhaps America will present Israel with a real choice and with consequences for recalcitrance," said David Levy of the New American Foundation. "Thus far, that has not been case."
PALESTINIANS REVIEW TALKS
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded Israel halt all settlement building and dismissed a partial, 10-month freeze declared by Netanyahu in November as inadequate. But Abbas agreed this month to end a boycott of negotiations with Israel by taking part in "proximity talks" through U.S. mediators.
He was deeply disappointed last year that Obama and Clinton failed to pressure Netanyahu into a full settlement freeze.
His chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, warned in a statement on Friday, however, that the negotiations may be thwarted unless Israel reverses this week's approval of the 1,600 homes.
Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell is working to salvage the process. Erekat said the Palestinians would listen to him when Mitchell returns to the region early next week.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in Washington, Joseph Nasr, Ori Lewis and Darren Whiteside in Jerusalem, Adam Entous in Amman, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow, and Megan Davies in New York; Editing by Diana Abdallah and Peter Cooney)
(For blogs and links on Israeli politics and other Israeli and Palestinian news, go to blogs.reuters.com/axismundi)
World
Barack Obama
Comments
See All Comments (2) | Post Comment
Mar 12, 2010 10:12pm EST
“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all people of the earth be gathered together against it.”Zechariah 13:3
I wish the rest of the world would just leave Israel alone; they are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves and the issue with the so called “paletinians”.
jfz50
Report As Abusive
Mar 12, 2010 11:58pm EST
She needs to rebuke the Palestinians for all their illegal settlements
mohammedsadevil
Report As Abusive
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