United States Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in this North African city early yesterday for a series of meetings with Arab leaders to discuss Middle East peace and other issues.
The top U.S. diplomat, on the last stop of a weeklong Mideast trip, is praising Israel for “unprecedented” concessions in the interest of restarting peace talks with the Palestinians, but her shuttle diplomacy produced no sign of a breakthrough.
The Palestinians on Saturday rejected Israel’s offer to show “restraint” in settlement construction in the West Bank, rather than completely halting building. Clinton spoke approvingly of the Israeli offer, knowing it is at odds with the prevailing Palestinian view.
After talks Saturday in the Persian Gulf with Palestinians and in Jerusalem with Israelis, Clinton flew to Marrakech where she will consultation with Arab foreign ministers. She arrived Sunday at sunrise.
Palestinian leaders have said they will not return to peace talks with Israel unless it stops 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.
Speaking Saturday at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Clinton said Israel is putting significant limits on settlement activity.
“What the prime minister has offered in specifics on restraints on a policy of settlements … is unprecedented,” she said.
The issue has become the biggest sticking point in getting Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Clinton made it clear that she wasn’t pleased with Israeli settlement construction but that it was no reason to hold up talks.
“There are always demands made in any negotiation that are not going to be fully realized,” she said.
Clinton also agreed with a statement by Netanyahu that Palestinians had never demanded a settlement freeze in the past as a condition for sitting down with Israel.
Her comments represented a significant departure in tone from her previous statements demanding a total Israeli settlement freeze without exception. Israel has been resisting that demand for months, and has given no indication it would be willing to call a total freeze.
Clinton’s main aim during her one-day visit to Israel was to resuscitate the Obama administration’s flagging Mideast peace push by persuading the two sides to return to talks.
But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is sticking to his refusal to resume negotiations until Israel stops building settlements. Abbas is fighting a perception among his people that he repeatedly caves in to U.S. demands.
Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh, responding to Clinton’s comments, said, “There can be no excuse for the continuation of settlements, which is really the main obstacle in the way of any credible peace process.
“Israel is not interested in stopping its settlement activities and the American administration didn’t succeed in convincing the Israeli government to stop these activities,” he said. “There should be a real change in the Israeli position toward this issue in order for the peace process to be restarted.”
Earlier in the day, a top aide to Abbas, Saeb Erekat, told The Associated Press that Abbas rejected Clinton’s request that he allow Israel’s government to complete building 3,000 units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and to allow the government to construct public buildings and continue construction in east Jerusalem — a territory Palestinians hope will be their future capital.