US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton defended the US stance toward Israeli settlement building to worried Arab allies Wednesday, saying Washington does not accept the legitimacy of the West Bank enclaves and wants to see their construction halted “forever.” Still, she said an Israeli offer to restrain - but not halt - construction represents “positive movement forward” toward resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Clinton met for an hour with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a hastily arranged stopover in the Egyptian capital to soothe Arab concerns that Washington is backing off demands for an Israeli settlement halt. The fears were sparked Saturday when Clinton, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at her side in Occupied Jerusalem, praised his government's offer as unprecedented. She has since tried to clarify the remarks, saying that the Israeli offer does not go far enough. Still, she has indicated that the Palestinians should resume negotiations with Israel without a full settlement halt as they demand. On Wednesday, Clinton insisted “our policy on settlement has not changed.” “We do not accept the legitimacy of settlement activity. Ending all settlement activity current and future would be preferable,” she told reporters after talks with Mubarak. Of the Israeli offer, 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 forward toward final status issues being addressed,” she said. Egypt appeared reassured by Clinton's visit, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called for a resumption of negotiations. “The Egyptian vision is that we have to concentrate on the endgame and we must not waste time adhering to this issue or that as a start for the negotiations,” Aboul Gheit said at a press conference with Clinton. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is sticking to his refusal to resume negotiations until Israel stops building settlements. After Arab criticism of her comments in Jerusalem on the Israeli plan, Clinton delayed her return to Washington after attending an international conference in Marrakech, Morocco, and flew instead to Cairo. In a new twist Tuesday, Clinton made what appeared to be an inadvertent slip of the tongue in a television interview with the Al-Jazeera network, referring to the goal of “an Israeli capital in Occupied east Jerusalem.” Meanwhile, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said that Occupied east Jerusalem must be included in a complete Israeli settlement freeze in order for Middle East peace talks to resume.
