US angers Arab world after U-turn on Israeli settlements
THE credibility of the United States in the Arab world suffered a setback yesterday when Hillary Clinton dropped demands for a halt to Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank.
Signalling an end to America's brief flirtation with the Palestinian cause, the US secretary of state flew to Jerusalem to voice support for Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In an effort to repair strained US-Israeli relations, she heaped praise on Mr Netanyahu, lauding his offer to limit settlement construction, even though it falls well short of President Barack Obama's original demands that building should be stopped.
She said: "What the prime minister has offered in specifics on restraints ... of settlements is unprecedented."
Risking the ire of the Arab world, she also joined Israeli calls for an immediate Palestinian return to the negotiating table without preconditions.
America's about-turn on the most contentious issue holding back Middle East peace talks has delighted Israel.
Peacemaker
But it will damage Mr Obama's reputation among many Arabs as a peacemaker, and bolster his critics.
The Palestinian leadership immediately rejected Mrs Clinton's demand to return to negotiations without a resolution on the settlements issue and warned that the peace process was "in a state of paralysis".
"The result of Israel's intransigence and America's back-peddling is that there is no hope for negotiations on the horizon," said a spokesman for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Delivering a speech in Cairo five months ago, Mr Obama sought to reach out to the Arab world by speaking of his sympathy for Palestinian "suffering" and the "humiliation" of occupation.
He rejected the legitimacy of Israeli settlement in the West Bank, saying: "It is time for the settlements to stop."
Presented with a subsequent demand from Mrs Clinton for a total settlement freeze without exception, Israel recoiled while the Arab world rejoiced.
Critics, however, denounced Mr Obama for setting Israel an unrealistic goal, pointing to the huge domestic opposition that Mr Netanyahu would have faced had he imposed such restrictions on the 500,000 settlers living in the West Bank.
Israeli government officials yesterday hailed Mr Obama's climbdown as a diplomatic victory. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem
Irish Independent
