Clinton: Israel settlement offer "unprecedented" (Roundup)

Oct 31, 2009, 22:20 GMT

Jerusalem - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday called Israeli concessions on construction of settlements in the West Bank 'unprecedented.'

The remarks came after the top US diplomat held meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Clinton also insisted that a total freeze on settlement was not a precondition for peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

'There has never been a precondition,' she said, in a shift from earlier US demands for a settlement freeze. She added that the settlement freeze 'has always been an issue within the negotiations.'

Israel has offered to halt construction in the settlements except for the completion of 3,000 housing units already being built. The government of Benjamin Netanyahu continues to reject a complete freeze on the settlements. Like previous Israeli governments, he has also rejected to negotiations on the situation in east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Clinton in different meetings Saturday night that Israel is willing to enter into peace talks with no preconditions, but that Palestinians are not.

Clinton said she was eager 'to see both sides as soon as possible begin in negotiations' although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected an Israeli offer Saturday in a meeting in Abu Dhabi. She proposed that Abbas resume negotiations with Israel pending a deal reached between the US and Israel over the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Abbas rejected talks with Israel unless there was a complete freeze of construction within Jewish settlements in the West Bank including Jerusalem, he said in a meeting with Clinton in Abu Dhabi earlier Saturday.

'Halting settlement activities, including what Israel terms as the natural growth within settlements is essential to restarting any peace negotiations,' Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement released after the meeting.

Barak urged US and Palestinians to 'make an effort to start negotiations,' after knowing that Palestinians had rejected the Israeli offer on settlements Saturday.

'It's essential that all the sides make an effort to start negotiations; this is a unique opportunity,' Barak said adding that 'a death end in the diplomatic process will only serve Hamas and the other extremist elements in the region.'

Clinton arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday night in her first visit since Netanyahu took office in March. The trip comes as the sides have failed to find a compromise that would enable a revival of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, broken off in late 2008 as Israel headed into new elections.

President Barack Obama announced at a three-way summit in New York last month that his administration would hold intense contacts with both parties with the goal of reviving the talks still this autumn.