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MARRAKECH, Morocco: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday called on Israel to make greater efforts to ease tensions with Palestinians and said the United States still opposes new Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The top US diplomat, who is on a tour to relaunch Middle East peace talks, praised efforts by Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to improve security and said Israel must reciprocate.
The United States had urged a total halt to new Israeli construction in the West Bank as a precursor to new negotiations, but on Saturday Clinton said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to restrict new building was "unprecedented".
Clinton said Monday that Netanyahu's offer "falls far short of our preferences" but was still worth seizing.
"If it is acted upon it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and will have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth," Clinton said ahead of an international conference of Arab foreign ministers in Marrakech, Morocco.
"The Obama administration's position on settlements is clear and unequivocal. It has not changed. The US does not accept the legitimacy of continuing Israeli settlements."
Clinton said she has pressured Israel to do "much more" to reciprocate measures taken by the Palestinians to improve security.
"I told Prime Minister Netanyahu that these positive steps on the part of the Palestinians should be met by positive steps from Israel on movements, access ... and Israeli security arrangements in the West Bank," she said.
"Israel has done a few things in that regard but they need to do much more," Clinton said.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas "has shown leadership and determination" regarding concerns over security, she said, "and Israel should reciprocate."
The United States is trying to rally Arab support for embattled Palestinian leader Abbas. Clinton is also to meet on Monday with Morocco's King Mohammed VI, who according to a government source will push an Arab peace initiative offering a full normalisation of ties in exchange for a return to pre-1967 borders.
Ahead of the Marrakech conference, a US official argued that Netanyahu "goes further in his willingness to restrain the settlements than any Israeli government before."
"While we reject the legitimacy of settlements, we also do not feel that they should be a precondition for negotiations," said Clinton's spokesman, Philip Crowley.
The Arab world, however, was unconvinced.
According to the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, Abbas and his aides were "astonished" by Clinton's support of Netanyahu's offer.
On Sunday, Arab League chief Amr Mussa ruled out any resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinians before a total freeze on Jewish settlements.
"If there is no freeze on settlements, there is no wisdom: What are you negotiating? Why build more settlements? Why create another fait accompli? It is not serious," Mussa said in Marrakech.
"If they want to continue this practice and enjoy protection against international law, then so be it, but then there can be no normalisation."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Sunday that it was "not reasonable or acceptable to conduct negotiations with the continuation of settlements."
Even the left-wing Israeli daily Haaretz was puzzled by Clinton's position.
"All US presidents since (the 1993 Oslo accords), including Hillary Clinton's husband, treated the settlements just like the weather: an interesting topic for conversation, but impossible to change. But Barack Obama has promised a change, not more of the same," the paper said.
Washington has for months been struggling to revive peace talks as part of a push toward a regional deal that would also see Israel strike peace with Syria and Lebanon and Arab states normalise relations with the Jewish state.
But the efforts have made little visible progress, with the issue of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, considered illegal by the international community, the main stumbling block. - AFP/de
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