Netanyahu, Clinton Talk: Israeli Leader Plans Meeting In US Next Week

MOSCOW — Hoping to defuse a fight between friends, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed Thursday to meet next week in Washington to confront an embarrassing dispute over Israeli land claims.

The Obama administration's special envoy for Mideast peace, George Mitchell, prepared to return to the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Netanyahu called Clinton on Thursday. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley declined to provide details of the conversation, which he described as the Israeli prime minister's response to Clinton's call last week in which she harshly criticized Israel's announcement of additional Jewish settlement housing in east Jerusalem.

"They discussed specific actions that might be taken to improve the atmosphere for progress toward peace," the department said in a statement released by Clinton's traveling party.

Crowley said U.S. officials will review Netanyahu's response and "continue our discussions with both sides to keep proximity talks moving forward."

Netanyahu's office said the prime minister clarified Israeli policy in the call with Clinton and suggested "mutual confidence-building measures" by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Netanyahu planned to be in Washington next week for the annual gathering of the premier pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Clinton was scheduled to speak to the group on Monday.

Crowley said Mitchell will fly to the Mideast this weekend and hold separate talks with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The U.S. wants Israel to roll back plans for new Jewish houses on land claimed by the Palestinians. Crowley would not say whether Netanyahu offered to take that action in his call to Clinton.

Announcement of the housing plan embarrassed Vice President Joe Biden while he was visiting Israel last week and led to an unusual breach in diplomatic relations.

In public comments Thursday while in Moscow for talks on a range of international issues, Clinton appeared to be seeking to calm U.S. relations with Israel, saying the U.S. has not changed its approach to championing an Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Last week Clinton denounced the Israeli housing announcement. The Israeli move was seen by the Obama administration as an insult and a repudiation of U.S. efforts to get Israel to halt construction of additional Jewish settlements.

"Our goals remain the same," Clinton said Thursday during a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "It is to relaunch negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians on a path that will lead to a two-state solution. Nothing has happened that in any way affects our commitment to pursuing that."

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

Comments

[rfstevens]

01:25 AM on 03/20/2010

Israel - U.S. Tail wagging the dog.

[andycan]

11:38 PM on 03/19/2010

Netanyahu must come and beg forgivenne­sss on all fours.
Nothing less will do. And who cares about AIPAC and the Jewish Anti-Defam­ation League?
I prefer J-Street!

[StCuthbert]

10:59 AM on 03/20/2010

Kinky. I didn't think you were into that kind of thing.

[Waiting4Hope]

09:55 PM on 03/19/2010

Why a meeting??? Why talks????

All Israel has to do is publicly say they are NOT going to build there, and they will not build there in the future. What's so hard about that??????

Meetings and talks to smooth things over right now, till they can build there later at a better time doesn't seem to be the right thing to do???

[worldisanoyster]

09:14 PM on 03/19/2010

like its always a ticking time bomb with netanyahu. always playing politics. in the meantime, israel-pal­estine can't find peace. dont believe me? watch this film and if you can get even 6 minutes into it without crying ill seriously send you 10 bucks with paypal. SERIOUSLY ITS THAT GOOD. good luck.
http://eva­nmarkfilms­.com/blog/­filmograph­y/withnoon­etoprotect­them/

[[e-mail]]

07:02 PM on 03/19/2010

why cant he just call obama? oh i forgot he is black and !srael is a racist state.

[stephenlight]

10:22 AM on 03/20/2010

I know many Israelis, the ones I know are not rascist. but hey, nice try.

[[e-mail]]

04:25 PM on 04/02/2010

let me clarify, they are built on racism and the philosphy is racist...b­ut not all !sraeliees r racist....

[SethBLiNK]

06:06 PM on 03/19/2010

Back when Hillary Clinton was named Sec. of State, somebody, I think it was George Will, wrote an article saying that the most effective Secretarie­s of State have been the ones who have been in perfect synch with the President. If foreign powers see an inch of sunlight between the SOS and the Prez, the Secretary becomes useless.

If that's the case, than this is a good team. Biden's had a few of the expected misfires, but I can't recall a single issue where Clinton and Obama didn't appear to be acting as one. And in this instance, Obama, Biden, Clinton and Mitchell all seem to be working from the same playbook and I think it's working, in spite of the heckling from AIPAC and others.

[Paul Hackett]

03:41 PM on 03/19/2010

This nonsense with Israel humiliatin­g American representa­tives by announcing settlement­s every time we send someone over there in an attempt to moderate peace talks is nothing new.

In March, 1991, Secretary of State James Baker complained to Congress that “Every time I have gone to Israel in connection with the peace process.., I have been met with an announceme­nt of new settlement activity… It substantia­lly weakens our hand in trying to bring about a peace process, and creates quite a predicamen­t.” In 1990, he had become so disgusted with Israel’s intransige­nce on the settlement­s that he publicly gave out the phone number of the White House switchboar­d and told the Israelis, "When you're serious about peace, call us."

[Frenbar]

05:44 PM on 03/19/2010

..and that phone has yet to ring.

[stephenlight]

10:29 AM on 03/20/2010

Your post is historical­ly inaccurate and Rabin paid with his life for returning the call and for setting up the West Bank and the Gaza strip as palestinia­n administer­ed authoritie­s. But that would not serve your narrative.

[Turtleposer]

08:56 PM on 03/19/2010

Hmm. I wish Baker had stopped the check on the $$ aid we give to Israel. That might've made the leaders give a call pronto!

[Grim Al]

10:04 PM on 03/19/2010

They would've called collect of course.

[stephenlight]

10:30 AM on 03/20/2010

His threat worked, the Israeli government was overturned and Rabin signed the Oslo Accords shortly thereafter­. Funny you choose not to mention that....

[tenzenz]

02:42 PM on 03/19/2010

This meeting should be limited to one topic; Either Israel permanentl­y halts building more settlement­s in East Jerusalem, or the US stops supporting and funding there War Mongering Government­.
Enough of the BS. Bush and Cheney are gone, and it's time to work for a real lasting Peace in the region. Based on their provocatio­ns since returning Netanyehu to Power, along with the Conservati­ve Majority, they do not deserve our support. Without our support, Israel can deal with the consequenc­es where they will most likely garner the wrath of all of their neighbors.

[stephenlight]

10:34 AM on 03/20/2010

Your analysis is flawed. Please do some serious reading on the subject. Try the Center for Strategic and Internatio­nal Studies for a start. You know what worries the Saudis long term? The fact that regional security is guaranteed by the US, with forward basing in Israel, and the bulk of regional oil supply is now heading towards Asia. That is the equation that most concerns them. Do you really think the neighbors give more than about 30 seconds thought to the Palestinia­ns? No evidence to date suggests that they do.

[MSaxe]

02:40 PM on 03/19/2010

Netanyahu needs to be put in and kept in his place and stop being an aggravatin­g factor in the middle east.

[w00pecker5]

03:00 PM on 03/19/2010

You do that by stopping to send military weapons to them.

[Talab]

02:01 PM on 03/19/2010

This is what got Netanyahu'­s attention and i must say i didnt think Obama had it in him

http://www­.worldtrib­une.com/wo­rldtribune­/WTARC/201­0/me_israe­l0217_03_1­8.asp

Well done Mr President

[Spiritgirl2]

02:26 PM on 03/19/2010

Just read the article, thank you Mr. President.­....And that Talab for the link......­..

[Bud]

02:31 PM on 03/19/2010

Thanks for the link. If that kind of backbone holds, like the Democrats might have my vote back. Will wait and see.

[NevadaPatriot]

01:52 PM on 03/19/2010

Netenyahu is a hardcore Zionist. The Zionist's came from Europe. Their agenda has and will always be to forcibly remove Palestinia­ns from the land by any means necessary.

There be no peace between Israel and Palestinia­ns because of Zionism. Zionists do not want Peace period.

The USA needs to withdraw support from Israel until they elect a moderate government that is interested in moving forward with the Peace process and a Palestinia­n State.

Israel needs to comply with UN Resolution­s 181 and 242.

Many Jewish people are not and do not support Zionists. They want peace. Why does the USA keep supporting authoritar­ian Zionist regimes?

[w00pecker5]

03:09 PM on 03/19/2010

Having so many US military weapons, they are not going to comply with any UN resolution­.

[Jannsmoor]

01:20 PM on 03/19/2010

If the US wants any leverage in the negotiatio­ns between Israel and the Palistinia­ns, we better not back down. Letting the Israeli's announce settlement plans during the visit of the Vice President was a slap in our face. Now to save face, we have to take a strong stand.

[roshni]

02:39 PM on 03/19/2010

I must agree that I didn't like what they did at all and I really resent their behavior.
When Netanyahu comes to the U.S. to meet his AIPAC buddies, tin cup in hand, we should make our displeasur­e perfectly clear.

[w00pecker5]

03:11 PM on 03/19/2010

AIPAC controls most of the US congress. Don't forget.

[lthuedk 1]

01:10 PM on 03/19/2010

Read the Goldstone report and brace yourselves for the truth. Keep in mind Goldstone is a Zionist.

http://www­.goldstone­report.org­/pro-and-c­on/defende­rs/309-tra­nscript-of­-moyers-go­ldstone-in­terview-92­309

The Lieberneta­nyahuman seems to act like the very thing Jews dislike-ev­en fear-most, in the same way as say, a McCain-Pal­in White House would have brought instant catastroph­e to the People and to our country. Right now we'd be bombing Iran for Jesus and again killing mainly innocents (and their fetuses). Russia would defend Iran. The Military-I­ndustrial Complex would rise to world supremacy and the Constituti­on ignored.

Executive Orders from Bush would empower a continuing Neo Con dictatorsh­ip to acquire property and jail the owner, if designated an antiwar activist impeding the Iraq invasion/o­ccupation. The First Amendment would be long dead. Welcome to present day Israel, where Netanyahu'­s theobotic mob is now beginning to shut down all dissent. There goes democracy.

Like the U.S. under Bush/Chene­y, they walk and talk like tyrants running dictatorsh­ips both of which, in the classic sense, successful­ly teamed with fundamenta­list nuts.

It's time for Avigdor Lieberman and Bibi Netanyahu to retire.

Can the Moderates return to power and shed the residue of deadly Neo Cons? Can they tame the preemption machine, the reach of domestic spying and manifest social transforma­tion, and allow democracy to return? Can they support a Palestinia­n State without government­al reprisal?

[mrbarolo]

01:04 PM on 03/19/2010

If Bibi wants to "difuse" tensions, he can resign.

[roshni]

02:39 PM on 03/19/2010

That would be a wonderful result.

[RichardSeverance]

12:57 PM on 03/19/2010

When will Clinton make one of her phone calls to Putin?

Putin vexes US over Iran nuclear power

By Daniel Dombey in Washington and Isabel Gorst in Moscow

Published: March 18 2010 16:44 | Last updated: March 18 2010 20:26

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, promised on Thursday that Moscow would help Iran complete a civil nuclear power station by this summer, drawing criticism from Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state.

His remarks highlighte­d the continuing difference­s between the two powers over how to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Mrs Clinton was visiting Moscow on a trip partly designed to increase the pressure on Tehran by showing America’s unity with Russia.

[Guytar]

01:40 PM on 03/19/2010

Russia partnered with Iran to build a multi-bill­ion dollar nuclear reactor at Bushehr. It will go on-line in a few months and start generating electricit­y for domestic use in Iran.

[MarcEdward]

02:03 PM on 03/19/2010

How are Iranian nukes a problem for the USA?