Clinton works to smooth out settlements controversy
Hillary Clinton, Hosni Mubarak, Nov. 4, 2009 | KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images Secretary Clinton talked with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo today to help smooth out the controversy she sparked this weekend when she made comments that suggested the United States might be backpedaling from its earlier call for a settlement freeze in the ...
Secretary Clinton talked with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo today to help smooth out the controversy she sparked this weekend when she made comments that suggested the United States might be backpedaling from its earlier call for a settlement freeze in the West Bank.
After meeting with Mubarak, which appeared to go well based on the smiles in the photo above, Clinton clarified herself on the settlements issue by saying of U.S. policy:
Our policy on settlements has not changed. We do not accept the legitimacy of settlement activity, and we have a very firm belief that ending all settlement activity, current and future, would be preferable.”
Referring to Israel’s offer to restrain, but not halt, settlement construction, she said:
It is not what we would prefer, because we would like to see everything ended forever. … But it is something that I think shows at least a positive movement toward the final status issues being addressed.”
Whether her efforts will get Israeli-Palestinian peace talks going anytime soon remains to be seen. Arabs and Palestinians have demanded a complete settlement freeze as a precondition for talks.
Photo: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images
More from Foreign Policy


At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment
Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.


How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China
As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.


What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal
Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.


Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust
Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.