Israel/Palestine

Secretary Clinton talked with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo today to help smooth out the controversy she sparked this weekend when she made comments that suggested the United States might be backpedaling from its earlier call for a settlement freeze in the West Bank.

After meeting with Mubarak, which appeared to go well based on the smiles in the photo above, Clinton clarified herself on the settlements issue by saying of U.S. policy:

Our policy on settlements has not changed. We do not accept the legitimacy of settlement activity, and we have a very firm belief that ending all settlement activity, current and future, would be preferable."

Referring to Israel's offer to restrain, but not halt, settlement construction, she said:

It is not what we would prefer, because we would like to see everything ended forever. … But it is something that I think shows at least a positive movement toward the final status issues being addressed."

Whether her efforts will get Israeli-Palestinian peace talks going anytime soon remains to be seen. Arabs and Palestinians have demanded a complete settlement freeze as a precondition for talks.

Photo: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images

In an interview with Al Jazeera today, reports the Politico's Laura Rozen, Secretary Clinton said she was the first American associated with any U.S. administration to call for the creation of a Palestinian state. She said,  "I was the first American associated with any admin to call for the establishment of a Palestinian state when I first did it 10 years ago. A lot of people thought that was very radical, now there is consensus we must get to a Palestinian state."

Clinton, seen above today in Marrakech, Morocco, at the Forum for the Future conference, is clearly trying to get back on track after her controversial remarks this weekend about West Bank settlements. The New America Foundation's Daniel Levy dissects the controversy in today's FP piece, "Unsettling Questions."

A few other tidbits of Clinton news:

•After attending the conference in Morocco, Clinton flew to Cairo today, and on the plane she served Lenôtre chocolate to the press. See the photo here.

•Japan apparently scheduled and then canceled a Friday meeting between Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Clinton. The reason: infighting within the Democratic Party of Japan.

•Over at the AfPak Channel, a contributor states that Clinton was insensitive when, two days after a terrible terrorist attack in Pakistan, she told a group of Pakistanis, "Al Qaeda has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002. I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to." As the New York Times put it, "The remarks upset her hosts, who have seen hundreds of soldiers and civilians killed as Pakistan has taken on a widening campaign against militant groups that have threatened the country from its tribal areas." Well, it certainly isn't the first time Clinton has been hard on Pakistan.

Photo: ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP/Getty Images

Over the weekend at a news conference, seen above, Clinton hailed Israel's "unprecedented" concessions on settlement construction in the West Bank. That didn't go over well with Palestinian and Arab leaders because Clinton had previously called for a total settlement freeze. Today, Clinton appeared to downplay her previous remarks, reports Laura Rozen over at Politico, who's in Morocco, Clinton's location for the day. As usual, anything related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stirs mass controversy.

Photo: DAN BALILTY/AFP/Getty Images

Secretary Clinton's schedule is absolutely packed today, but she'll conclude the day with something delicious and spiritual, the State Department's iftar dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the subject of a recent FP photo essay. With her busy day, though, I doubt she'll be fasting. (At left, Clinton attends a dinner in Brussels on March 4, when she was there to discuss Afghanistan strategy with allies.)

Someone else who has been feasting lately is Clinton's husband Bill, who ate lunch with President Obama while he was in New York yesterday to give a speech to the city's financial sector. The two ate at Il Mulino, a restaurant featuring dishes from Italy's Abruzzo region.

In other news:

•Secretary Clinton has "provisionally agreed" to travel to Israel at the end of October or the beginning of November, reports former FP writer Laura Rozen, who's now at Politico.

•Clinton most restructure the State Department to make it more efficient, a recent FP article argues.

Photo: DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images

Secretary Clinton has some important appointments today. This morning, she delivers a speech mapping out the Obama administration's policy toward India, a country that was very pro-United States during the George W. Bush administration and a country that Clinton is expected to visit next month.

Clinton will also bilateral with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a controversial right-wing figure who rejects a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and has said, "Those who want peace should prepare for war."

Her schedule:

11:30 a.m. Keynote address at U.S.-India Business Council's 34th Anniversary "Synergies Summit", at U.S. Chamber of Commerce

2:00 p.m. Bilateral with His Excellency Avigdor Lieberman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel

4:00 p.m. Swearing In Ceremony for Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs

6:00 p.m. Meeting on Italian Earthquake Relief Partnership with the National Italian American Foundation

Once again, Secretary Clinton revealed her bold side yesterday during an appearance (above) in Washington with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. When asked by a reporter about Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory, she replied in "unusually blunt terms":

With respect to settlements, the [U.S.] president was very clear when [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu was here. He wants to see a stop to settlements -- not some settlements, not outposts, not natural-growth exceptions. We think it is in the best interests of the effort that we are engaged in that settlement-expansion cease. That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly, not only to the Israelis but to the Palestinians and others. And we intend to press that point.

"Natural growth" refers to construction in existing settlements to make room for expanding families.

Today, Israel delivered an "effective rebuff" to Clinton's remarks. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the future of the settlements "will be determined in final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and in the interim, normal life must be allowed to continue in those communities."

"Normal life" refers to what Clinton called "natural growth."

This difference on the settlements is part of an emerging rift between the U.S. and Israeli governments on the Middle East peace process. Meanwhile, President Obama and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet today.

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In March, Secretary Clinton met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (above) in Ramallah, West Bank. Today, she'll be meeting with him over dinner. She'll also be meeting with Roxana Saberi, the American journalist who was recently freed after being arrested in Iran earlier this year. The official schedule: 

12:00 p.m. Host working lunch for His Excellency Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt

2:00 p.m. Meeting with Roxana Saberi, American Journalist

7:00 p.m. Host working dinner for His Excellency Dr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority

Photo: Bernat Armangue-pool/Getty Images

I don't have time to elaborate further (gotta move on to other FP tasks), but there have been a couple of posts this week on FP blogs about Secretary Clinton and U.S. policy toward Hamas:

Over at Passport: "The Obama administration's end run around Hamas restrictions"

Over at The Cable: "Clinton articulates policy regarding Hamas"

More information is at the Los Angeles Times: "Obama move alarms Israel supporters"