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8433
“Clinton to Meet Arab Ministers on Peace”
by Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST   
November 2nd, 2009

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton prepared Monday to consult with Arab foreign ministers on Obama administration efforts to get Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace negotiations, two days after she raised Arab ire by praising Israel's offer to limit - but not stop - settlement construction.

Clinton was to meet first with Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri before flying to the southern-central city of Ouarzazate for an audience with King Mohammed VI. Later she was returning to Marrakech for talks with foreign ministers of several Persian Gulf nations.

Clinton also was expected to meet separately with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who has rejected US appeals for improved Arab relations with Israel as a way to help restart Middle East peace talks, saying the Israel is not interested in a deal.

Clinton urged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in a face-to-face meeting in Abu Dhabi on Saturday to renew talks, which broke down late last year, without conditions. Abbas said no, insisting that Israel first halt all settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Then, at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu late Saturday in Jerusalem, Clinton praised Netanyahu's offer to curb some settlement construction, saying it was an unprecedented gesture.

"I believe that the US condones continued settlement expansion," Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said Sunday in a rare public chiding of Washington.

"Calling for a resumption of negotiations despite continued settlement construction doesn't help because we have tried this way many times," Khatib added. "Negotiations are about ending the occupation and settlement expansion is about entrenching the occupation."

Palestinians expressed deep disappointment and frustration at Clinton's words, which signaled a softening of the past US call for a complete freeze on settlement activity.

Jordan and Egypt also issued statements Sunday critical of the latest US approach to the settlements issue. Clinton spoke by telephone with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

Clinton was in Marrakech to attend a regional conference called Forum for the Future, with representatives of nations of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as advanced industrialized countries. It is the final stop on a weeklong journey that began Wednesday in Pakistan.

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