WORLD> Middle East
Clinton makes personal bid to resume Mideast talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-31 21:53

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a new push on Mideast peace, held talks Saturday in this Persian Gulf city with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas before shuttling to Israel.

Clinton makes personal bid to resume Mideast talks
 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) stands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in Abu Dhabi October 31, 2009, in this picture released by the Palestinian Press Office (PPO). [Agencies]
It was a personal plea by America's top diplomat for the two sides to resume talks even as US officials acknowledge there's little prospect for an immediate breakthrough.

Over the course of the summer, US President Barack Obama had hoped for a fast track to renewed peace negotiations. But Clinton reported to him on Oct. 22 that neither side had taken sufficient steps toward resuming the dialogue.

Clinton arrived in Abu Dhabi early Saturday after a three-day visit to Pakistan.

Obama held a joint meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas in New York in September, hoping it would persuade them to return to negotiations that had broken off more than a year ago. In her report to the president in October, Clinton indicated that the Palestinians had strengthened security efforts and reforms of government institutions, but needed to do more to prevent terrorism and stop those who carry out or encourage attacks on Israel.

Related readings:
Clinton makes personal bid to resume Mideast talks Clinton's Pakistan visit rocked by attacks
Clinton makes personal bid to resume Mideast talks US must get wise, elders tell Clinton
Clinton makes personal bid to resume Mideast talks Clinton to meet Abbas in Abu Dhabi
Clinton makes personal bid to resume Mideast talks Clinton charm effort hit by suspicion
She has indicated that Israelis have eased Palestinians' freedom of movement and expressed a willingness to curtail the building of settlements in the Palestinian areas. The Obama administration, however, is demanding an end to all new settlement construction, which the Israelis have refused.

Clinton intends to consult with a range of Arab foreign ministers on the Israel-Palestinian stalemate when she attends an international conference in Morocco on Monday and Tuesday.

Her talks in Jerusalem also were expected to include Defense Minister Ehud Barack and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who suggested recently Israelis and Palestinians come up with a long-term interim arrangement that would ensure stability, while delaying a final deal.

He has recommended leaving the toughest issues — such as the status of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost homes in the conflict — "to a much later stage."

In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. before leaving Pakistan's capital on Friday, Clinton played down the prospects for a quick breakthrough.

"We knew it would be a process," she said. "We knew that it would be challenging."

Complicating the effort are the responses to international calls for an independent inquiry into Israel's offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip last winter. A UN report by respected South African jurist Richard Goldstone accused Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes during the three-week operation.

Gaza's rulers, the Islamic militant group Hamas, said Clinton's visit was "destined to fail."

Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the US could not effectively engage in peacemaking while ignoring Hamas, which came to power in Palestinian elections in 2006 and then seized power in Gaza in 2007. The US says it won't engage with Hamas until it drops its refusal to accept Israel's right to exist and meets other preconditions.