Marrakech (Morocco), Nov. 2: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Monday called on Israel to make greater efforts to ease tensions with Palestinians as she tried to overcome Arab anger over Jewish settlements.
The United States had urged a halt to all settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a precursor to relaunching the peace process, but on Saturday Ms Clinton endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer of a partial freeze. Speaking ahead of an international conference in Marrakech, Morocco, she admitted that the Israeli 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. "The Obama administration’s position on settlements is clear and unequivocal," Ms Clinton said. —AFP
