Clinton: no more settlements, no exceptions

Thu, 05/28/2009 - 10:11am

Hillary Clinton, May 28, 2009 

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

Preeti Aroon | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
( filed under: )


Advertisement

 

She so does not play. which

by anne on Thu, 05/28/2009 - 11:04am

She so does not play. which is why we love her.

She could not have made it

by stacyx on Thu, 05/28/2009 - 1:29pm

She could not have made it any more clear. This demand on the part of the US is absolutely necessary in order to make sure everyone knows they/we are a credible moderator for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The continued construction of the settlements violate not only the prior 'road map' but also violate Israeli law according to their highest court. But the right wing factions in Israel elected to ignore this and kept building for the past decade, anyway. The US can't be seen as a good faith negotiator in this process if we only demand the Palestinians to abide by international law. That may upset some pro-Israel hard-liners in this country, but that's the reality of it.
******
Secretary Clinton

Let's see

by IKant on Thu, 05/28/2009 - 2:22pm

I sincerely hope that this is going somewhere and is not only for the cameras.
To me is quite simple: if Israel does not stop the settlements, the US should stop the financial aid to them. They keep violating international law and every UN resolution and this must have an end once and for all.