[Washington Post] Karen DeYoung and Howard Schneider - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday in Jerusalem that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had offered "unprecedented" concessions on West Bank settlement construction in an effort to restart peace talks, a departure from the administration's earlier criticism of Israel and a possible signal of impatience with the refusal of Palestinian leaders to join negotiations. Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas rejected Israel's latest offer, relayed by Clinton, to curb most West Bank construction. Clinton called for a resumption of talks "without preconditions" and suggested that the Palestinian demand for a halt to West Bank construction was an unreasonable obstacle. She also said the differences between the two sides on all issues should be negotiated face to face. Her comments seemed to mark a final departure from earlier U.S criticism over settlements, which raised Palestinian expectations that a building freeze was in the offing. It appeared increasingly unlikely to achieve President Obama's stated goal of resuming direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by the end of the year. Clinton's objective seemed less to achieve any real breakthrough than to give the impression of continued effort.
2009-11-02 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive