World
Face To Face
Hillary Clinton envisions direct
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Hillary Clinton, Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas are shown at the peace
talks in September.
Washington/JTA
H
illary Rodham Clinton told a
Palestinian-American audience
that the only path to statehood is
through direct talks with Israel.
The U.S. secretary of state's Oct. 20 remarks
to a gala dinner of the American Task Force
on Palestine came as the Palestinian Authority
reportedly was seeking international recogni-
tion in case it decides to unilaterally declare
statehood.
"As much as the United States and other
nations around the world want to see a resolu-
tion to this conflict, only the parties themselves
can take the difficult steps that will lead to
peace Clinton said.
"That is why the Obama administration is
working so hard to support direct talks that
offer a forum for both sides to grapple with the
core issues in good faith. There is no substitute
for face-to-face discussion and, ultimately, for
an agreement that leads to a just and lasting
peace. That is the only path that will lead to the
fulfillment of the Palestinian national aspira-
tions and the necessary outcome of two states
for two peoples."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas suspended the Middle East peace
talks last month, barely a month after they
were renewed, when Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a
10-month partial freeze on settlement building
in the Palestinian terroitories.
President Obama has called for an exten-
sion of the freeze, and has offered Netanyahu
a wide-ranging package of security and dip-
lomatic guarantees if he changes his mind.
Netanyahu has been saying that unless the
Palestinians stop making arrangements for a
unilateral declaration, he will not reinstate the
building freeze.
Clinton's address did not mention the U.S.
government's calls to extend the freeze and
instead emphasized the need to return to
direct talks — an implicit rebuke of Abbas.
She also said a final status agreement
between Israel and the Palestinians will reflect
"developments" subsequent to the Six-Day War.
An end-of-conflict agreement "reconciles the
Palestinian goal of an independent and viable
state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed
swaps and Israel's goal of a Jewish state with
secure and recognized borders that reflect
subsequent developments and meet Israel's
security requirements," Clinton said.
Israel secured a letter in 2004 from the Bush
administration recognizing some settlement
blocs as "realities on the ground." These were
never specified, but are thought to include
the Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem, Maaleh
Adumim to its east and possibly settle-
ments along the West Bank border north of
Jerusalem. Israeli officials have been seeking
a reiteration of the commitment from the
Obama administration.
Clinton called on Arab states to contribute
more concretely to advancing the process.
"It takes far more than commitments and
plans to support making the state of Palestine
a reality',' she said.
Clinton called for the release of Cpl. Gilad
Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped in Israel in
2006 and held since by Hamas-affiliated terror-
ists in the Gaza Strip. Her call was applauded
by the audience.
The American Task Force on Palestine lob-
bies for two states and believes in engaging a
broad array of Jewish groups. ❑
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