The Clinton Visit

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Israel this weekend and met with both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President

Mahmoud Abbas before making controversial remarks on preconditions for negotiations that led to condemnation from the PA.

Speaking with Netanyahu yesterday, Clinton affirmed the U.S. stance on the need to halt settlement activity in the West Bank, but she also asserted the need to resume peace talks with no preconditions from either side, including the Palestinian demand that Israel halt settlement activity. Clinton said:

“Well, I would add just for context that what the prime minister is saying is historically accurate. There has never been a precondition. It’s always been an issue within the negotiations. What the prime minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements, which he has just described – no new starts, for example – is unprecedented in the context of the prior two negotiations. It’s also the fact that for 40 years, presidents of both parties have questioned the legitimacy of settlements.

“But I think that where we are right now is to try to get into the negotiations. The prime minister will be able to present his government’s proposal about what they are doing regarding settlements, which I think when fully explained will be seen as being not only unprecedented but in response to many of the concerns that have been expressed. There are always demands made in any negotiation that are not going to be fully realized. I mean, negotiation, by its very definition, is a process of trying to meet the other’s needs while protecting your core interests. And on settlements, there’s never been a precondition, there’s never been such an offer from any Israeli government. And we hope that we’ll be able to move in to the negotiations where all the issues that President Obama mentioned in his speech at the United Nations will be on the table for the parties to begin to resolve.”

Netanyahu has also called for the resumption of negotiations with no preconditions, but its important to note that previously the Israeli government demanded that the PA acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Netanyahu said at the press conference with Clinton:

“We are willing to engage in peace talks immediately without preconditions. The other fact is that, unfortunately, the other side is not. It is asking and piling on preconditions that it never put on in the 16 years that we’ve had that the peace process since the annunciation of the Oslo Accords. There have not been these preconditions. It’s a change of Palestinian policy, and I hope they change back to the right thing, which is to get into the negotiating tent. We’re eager and sincere in our desire to reach an agreement to end this conflict. I happen to think that we’re able to do this, contrary to all the pessimists around us. But the only way we can get to an agreement is to begin negotiating, and that is something that we are prepared to do. That is a fact.”

Meanwhile, the PA condemned Clinton’s comments as thwarting peace efforts. Abbas said in a televised interview:

“The United States did not offer anything new that would move the peace process forward between the Palestinians and the Israelis…

“This US position is illogical. A six-month settlement freeze does not mean halting settlements completely, which is a condition for the resumption peace process.

Both Jordan and Egypt got in the PA’s corner in condemning Israel, with leaders in the countries releasing a joint statement that:

“stressed the need for an immediate cessation of Israeli unilateral actions, particularly the building of settlements and jeopardising the identity of Jerusalem and holy places, which could only derail the chances of peaces.”

Photos from Reuters.