Clinton rejects Israeli claim on settlements nod

Jun 6, 2009, 6:08 GMT

   Washington - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Friday dismissed suggestions by a former Israeli official that the US had secretly agreed to allow Israel to expand its settlements in the Palestinian territories.

   Clinton told reporters there was no reference to such an understanding in the 'negotiating record' that was turned over to the Obama administration by the outgoing Bush administration.

   She was responding to a question about an essay published in Israel this week by Dov Weissglas, a former advisor to former prime minister Ariel Sharon. Weissglas, in an op-ed in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper on Tuesday, wrote that the Bush administration had given the informal go-ahead for settlements to expand to accommodate 'natural growth.'

   Clinton's remarks reinforced US President Barack Obama's message from Cairo on Thursday, when he repeated his admonishment that Israel must stop its settlements policy.

   'There is no memorialization of any informal and oral agreements,' Clinton said. 'If they did occur, which, of course, people say they did, they did not become part of the official position of the United States government.'

   Obama insists that settlement expansion, even to accommodate natural growth, violates commitments made by Israel in the 2003 'road map' peace plan.

   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on a collision course with Washington over Obama's stance, calling it an 'unreasonable demand' earlier this week.

   Clinton, who spoke to reporters after meeting her Turkish counterpart in Washington, said the obligations under the road map are 'very clear.'