Clinton says US clear on halt of Israeli settlementsSecretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday the US demand for a halt in Israeli settlement Israeli settlements are communities inhabited by Israeli Jews in territory that came under Israel's control as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, which is partially under Israeli military administration[1] expansion is clear and that she could have been clearer when speaking about it, days after stirring an Arab backlash over praising Israel's plan to ease settlement growth. "I think President (Barack) Obama was absolutely clear. He wanted a halt to all settlement activity," she said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television. "Perhaps those of us who work with him and for him could have been clearer in communicating that that is his policy. That is what we're committed to doing and that is what we hope to see when there is eventually a Palestinian state The Palestinian state (Arabic (دولة فلسطين) is a proposed country. The proposed location includes the Gaza Strip and the autonomously controlled areas of the West Bank, currently controlled by the Palestinian National ," she added. "The alternative to stopping all new settlement construction is that it continues ... We the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. do not want to see that," she said. "We believe that halting new construction is a positive step on the way to the two-state solution The two-state solution envisions two separate states in the Western portion of the historic region of Palestine, one Jewish and another Arab to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict. ," she added. Clinton headed to Cairo on Tuesday for hastily convened talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Noun 1. Hosni Mubarak - Egyptian statesman who became president in 1981 after Sadat was assassinated (born in 1929) Mubarak following Arab anger over her remarks during her latest visit to Israel. She was criticised for praising as "unprecedented" steps that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would take to limit settlement growth, which fall far short of previous US demands for a complete halt to all settlement activity. She also called from Jerusalem for an immediate resumption of peace talks that were suspended during the Gaza war at the turn of the year, despite the Palestinian insistence that Israel freeze settlement activity first. Clinton later clarified her comments to say that Washington still considers the settlements to be illegal and on Monday praised efforts by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to improve security, calling on Israel to reciprocate re·cip·ro·cate v. re·cip·ro·cat·ed, re·cip·ro·cat·ing, re·cip·ro·cates v.tr. 1. To give or take mutually; interchange. 2. To show, feel, or give in response or return. v. . The settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967, are home to nearly 500,000 Israelis and are considered illegal by the international community. Arab officials accused President Barack Obama's administration of backtracking (algorithm) backtracking - A scheme for solving a series of sub-problems each of which may have multiple possible solutions and where the solution chosen for one sub-problem may affect the possible solutions of later sub-problems. after it had earlier this year called for a complete end to settlement building in the West Bank and said Clinton's clarifications did not go far enough. 
|
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion