Clinton Extends Mideast Peace Trip After Attempts To Defuse Anger Over Settlements Comments

MARRAKECH, Morocco — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday urged Arabs and Israelis to set aside their historical differences, avoid inflammatory rhetoric and recommit to attaining a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

In a speech at an international forum attended by senior government officials from the Mideast, North Africa and several major industrialized countries, Clinton struck a serious, cautious tone as she raised the matter of pursuing a comprehensive peace deal.

"I know this is a matter that is of grave and pervasive concern among the countries represented here, but even far beyond this region," she said. "We are committed to a two-state solution," she added, referring to the long-running U.S.-brokered effort to establish separate Israeli and Palestinian states. "And we are determined and persistent in the pursuit of that goal."

After speaking, Clinton was flying to Cairo for a hastily arranged meeting with senior Egyptian government officials, including President Hosni Mubarak. She had been scheduled to fly home Tuesday but said late Monday she would be traveling instead to Cairo to continue consultations on the peace process that she began Saturday in separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The decision appeared linked to Egyptian concern about signs of a recalibration of the U.S. approach to the peace process.

Clinton caused a stir Saturday in Jerusalem when she said at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his government's offer to restrain – but not stop – settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem was unprecedented. She offered unusually strong praise for Israeli peace efforts without explicitly mentioning positive acts by the Palestinians.

Arab governments interpreted her comments in Jerusalem as a tilting of U.S. policy toward Israel, but on Monday in Marrakech, Clinton issued what she called a clarification, saying her words in Jerusalem were meant as "positive reinforcement" for the Israelis. She added that Israel's effort still fell far short of U.S. expectations, and she added strong praise for the Palestinians.

She said the U.S. still believes that continued Israeli settlement activity is illegitimate – a point she failed to emphasize in Jerusalem.

In her speech Tuesday, Clinton referred to the importance of language, although aides said she was not referring to her own remarks in Jerusalem.

She urged a united effort in pursuit of the goal of comprehensive peace in the Mideast. "And I think that does require that all parties should be careful about what we say – the kind of recriminations that are so understandable. But we need to work together in a constructive spirit toward this shared goal of a comprehensive peace. I feel very strongly that it is attainable."

Clinton said President Barack Obama will not give up in his efforts to work through "the difficult and tangled history" of the Mideast conflict.

"As leaders of countries that have a direct stake and care deeply" about the fundamental issues that have to be resolved in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, she said, "I would just ask you to think about how we can each demonstrate the commitment that is necessary for us to go forward. We can maintain an allegiance to the past, but we cannot change the past. No matter what we say about it, it is behind us."

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations broke off more than a year ago.

Palestinian leaders have said they will not return to peace talks with Israel unless it halts all settlement building on lands they claim for a future state, and they believe Israel has blatantly defied a U.S. demand for a settlement freeze.

Palestinians see Jewish settlement building as one of the biggest threats to their ability to form a viable state in the territories of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Some 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Comments

[Albert Amato]

The Muslim world cannot handle a strong woman in leadership.......or just showing her face.
That is the only problem with Hilary there.

[Ergon]

They ELECT them in Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, doofus. Get back to me when we have a woman as president.

[Albert Amato]

Heard of honor killings,keeping women from education, hiding them in their houses and having to never meet with another man.......study the culture before you comment.

[Carnacamarna]

You are wrong about that.

[mamacat]

If Hillary gives up now, the Israeli settlers win. It may take her more than a hundred hours to fix something that has been going on for over a hundred years.

[blutigeroo]

Sorry Clinton, you said it and cannot take it back now. The Palestinians will not forget. How about you actually doing something more than just spewing out empty words?

[Macready]

nor will we forget blutigeroo . . . she is a disgrace . . . she is proving why I did not vote for her for prez

[vascopyjama]

"Arabs and Israelis to set aside their historical differences, avoid inflammatory rhetoric". Maybe you should try avoiding inflammatory rhetoric Hillary.

[MIKEinNYC]

Oslo I, Oslo II, Taba, Wye, Zinni, Mitchell I, Tenet, Roadmap, Annapolis, Sharm, Mitchell II , Mitchell III, Camp David, and now Hillary Clinton. Did I miss something?

What a joke!

Diplomats and politicians with no imagination have been trying to solve the middle east problem diplomatically for 60 years and it cannot be done. Did you ever hear that to keep doing something the same way and expecting different results is insane?

The fact is the middle east problem is a legal problem. The United Nations took property from Palestinian Arabs in order to create a safe haven for persecuted Jews and the UN never paid just compensation to the Palestinian Arabs for their losses. It`s no wonder that the Arabs harbor resentment. The Jews, who live under siege, haven't had too great either.

You know what you get when you take someone`s property for no money? 60 years of war.

I don`t want to hear that Arabs left voluntarily. I leave my property voluntarily all the time. In doing so my property rights are not relinquished.

The UN needs to set up a Middle East Compensation Commission where people, Jews too, who lost property due to Israel`s creation can come, present claims and get justly compensated by the UN in exchange for a release of claims.

[Justtellthetruth]

Unfortunately, Secretary Clinton has already made clear where her sympathies lay. Apparently, even the idea of SLOWING the growth in the settlements (the only violently enforced colonial settler movement on the planet) is a sacrifice of such magnitude that it deserves praise.

The State department had to CLARIFY it's ACTUAL position after Clinton's nakedly biased remarks, but it is too late to save her credibility in the region (or among the many US citizens who see this conflict as central to the war on terror and the possibility of future 9/11s)

She is incapable of properly doing the job her post requires and she should resign, so that someone who is not already so completely compromised can try to undo the damage she has already done.

[Wisdo]

According to figures released by the Federal Election Commission, she was the number-one recipient of campaign funds from the Israeli lobby in the 2005-2006 campaign cycle, far exceeding all other Democrats and Republicans alike.

[LemonMeringue]

I wish John Kerry had this job.

[Ergon]

Hamas, in a message to President Obama, has offered talks with the US.Given that the PA's Abbas has about as much credibility as Hamid Karzai's, he might well listen, since it is Hamas, and not Fatah, that can deliver peace. http://irish4palestine.blogspot.com/2009/11/hamas-offers-to-talk-to-obama.html

[GZLives]

Musn't let the Muslims get angry or they might riot

[Ergon]

With Apache helicopters and White Phosphorus

[mamacat]

If it will accomplish something worthwhile, she should stay there as long as needed. Forget about the clock and the calendar, just get us world peace.

[alysheba 3]

Hillary staying will do nothing. The damage is done.

[phute]

Well Hillary - not so smart now eh?
When your AIPAC sponsors say jump - you can only answer how high can't you? Do you really think that Netanyahu actually likes you? That Peres rates you? Vanity vanity vanity.
You merely further their aims.

[davidwayneosedach]

Clinton is not going to change anything between Israel and the Palestinians. She should go somewhere else where she might be useful.

[Americafirst2008]

There was no misunderstanding on Clinton's part.

She is clearly kissing the butt of Israel, even though it's against our strategic interests. To be an honest broker you need to acknowledge both sides, she did not mention any positives on the Palestinian side but praised netenyahu for a policy where he pretty told the US to f off.

Just ridiculous. She might as well be wearing a yamulke and an 'i love Israel' tshirt to all future mideast 'peace' negotiations.

[StCuthbert]

The fact that the Palestinians see Jews living in their future state as the biggest obstacle to peace says a lot...

[Macready]

she is the wrong person for the job of SS .. . she has shown herself repeatedly to be pro-israel . . . her remarks last week cannot be swept under the carpet . . . America has to take action to stop israel . . so far it has done nothing except kow tow big time to israel and the AIPAC . . . the same old same old .. will only net more of the same old same old . . . nothing will be achieved we can only count on Operation Cast Lead II