Clinton: 'The United States Will Not Be A Passive Participant'

In a bid to effectively kick start negotiations on the final status of the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to declare their positions on the “core issues” in the conflict and to “make the difficult decisions that peace requires.”

Admitting “deep frustrations” at the lack of progress in the U.S.-backed pursuit of a settlement, Clinton said in a speech Friday night it was “time to grapple with the core issues of the conflict – on borders and security; settlements, water and refugees; and on Jerusalem itself.”

“The United States will not be a passive participant,” she warned. “We will push the parties to lay out their positions on the core issues without delay and with real specificity. We will work to narrow the gaps asking the tough questions and expecting substantive answers. And in the context of our private conversations with the parties, we will offer our own ideas and bridging proposals when appropriate.”

How serious the Israeli and Palestinian leaders are in reaching an agreement would be determined by their engagement on the core issues, she said.

Her strongest words were reserved for the issue of Israeli settlements.

“Like every American administration for decades, we do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity,” she said. “We believe their continued expansion is corrosive not only to peace efforts and two-state solution, but to Israel’s future itself.”                  

The “settlements” referred to are more than 120 communities developed over the past 40 years ranging from small villages to towns with populations exceeding 30,000.

Successive Israeli governments have ruled out a withdrawal to the boundaries that were in place before the 1967 Six Day War (also known as the 1949 armistice lines), and most Israelis expect the future borders of a Palestinian state to exclude at least some of these communities.

In a key letter to the Israeli government that was later endorsed by overwhelming votes in the U.S. House and Senate, President Bush in 2004 cited the existence of these “major Israeli populations centers” in saying that “it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949.”                               

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[The arrogance of the administration official referenced above speaks for itself.  -- Editor]