Secretary Clinton discussing East Jerusalem housing units with Netanyahu

Posted By P.J. Aroon Thursday, November 11, 2010 - 3:05 PM Share

Secretary Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in New York today to discuss Mideast peace. Not that they haven't been doing so anyway. Before the two met, Netanyahu told journalists that he and Clinton had been talking "quite intensively" by phone during the past few weeks.

During their talks today, Clinton is sure to bring up her disappointment about Israel's recent announcement of 1,300 new housing units in Arab East Jerusalem. Yesterday, when announcing $150 million in U.S. budget assistance to the Palestinian Authority, Clinton said, "The United States was deeply disappointed by the announcement of advanced planning for new housing units in sensitive areas of East Jerusalem. This announcement was counterproductive to our efforts to resume negotiations between the parties. We have long urged both parties to avoid actions which could undermine trust, including in Jerusalem."

Mario Tama/Getty Images

EXPLORE:MIDDLE EAST, HILLARY, ISRAEL/PALESTINE
 

STACYX

6:21 PM ET

November 14, 2010

Time to start thinking outside the box

I appreciate all of Secretary Clinton's hard work on this issue, but the carrots and carrots approach hasn't yielded lasting results before. Today we have word Bibi will agree to push his Cabinet to accept this overly-generous deal that Clinton offered. The message sent is that Israel's intransigence is once again rewarded. The US has always been and always will be dedicated to Israel's security- any assertions to the contrary is just mindless partisanship. But friendship goes both ways and right now, Israel is not acting like an ally. Even the NYT is fed up. The 90 day partial settlement moratorium is buys more time, but for what? Bibi very cleverly kicked the can down the road to the midterms, hoping that the GOP would make solid gains and that gamble paid off. Now he's going to use the moratorium, if there is one, to stall some more.

If Israel can't stop illegal settlement construction during peace negotiations, even when it will benefit their long term security, how in the world are they going to make the difficult decisions about borders and Jerusalem?

 

EWD4

7:51 PM ET

December 10, 2010

The message sent is that

The message sent is that Israel's intransigence is once again rewarded. The US has katalog firm always been and always will be dedicated to Israel's security- any assertions to the contrary is just mindless partisanship. But friendship goes both ways and right now, Israel is not acting like an ally. Even the NYT is fed up. The 90 day partial settlement moratorium is buys more time, but for what? Bibi very cleverly kicked the can down the road to the midterms, hoping that the GOP would make solid gains and that gamble paid off.

 

Madam Secretary is an obsessive blog about all things Hillary Clinton. From her policies to her pantsuits, Madam Secretary delivers up-to-the-minute news, analysis, and gossip about America's top diplomat.