Laura Rosen, hereMarrakesh, Morocco_ After facing a barrage of press coverage that the U.S. has effectively sided with Israel in downplaying the issue of Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank in an effort to get Israel-Palestinian peace talks relaunched, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today walked back comments she made in Jerusalem at a late night news conference Saturday next to a beaming and self-confident Israeli Prime Minister.........
"Israel has done a few things but needs to do much more," Clinton said, adding that the Obama administration's position is that it does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlment activity. But she also said Israel has put some limitations on itself, which if acted upon would be "unprecedented."
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas "has shown leadership and determination" regarding concerns over security, Clinton said, "and Israel should reciprocate."...
Cilnton is here at the Forum for the Future conference of Arab foreign ministers in Morocco in large part to try to get Arab foreign ministers to throw their support to Abbas who the U.S. has asked to agree to go into talks with Israel with something short of a total Israeli settlement freeze. But Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, also here for the conference, told reporters earlier today that Arab states would not be supportive of such a U.S. request...
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy's David Makosvky said the Obama administration may have to wait for whether those elections are held or not before Abbas -- known as Abu Mazen -- will be willing to go into talks with Israel under the current terms. "A law of Mideast peacemaking is that compromises do not occur during a Palestinian or Israeli election campaign," .... "If Abu Mazen heads for elections, he will find it convenient not to budge so he can flex his nationalist muscles. If this is his intention, Obama Administration peacemaking will be on hold until the Palestinian elections end in early 2010."
No comments:
Post a Comment