The US on Tuesday stepped up pressure on visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt Jewish settlements as a step toward reviving the peace process with the Palestinians.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a press conference to drive home the US position on settlements in the West Bank, and the issue was raised directly with Netanyahu by Senator John Kerry during a visit to the US Congress.
“The president [Barack Obama] was very clear yesterday in his statement that he wants to see a stop to the settlements,” Clinton told reporters. “I hosted a dinner for Prime Minister Netanyahu later in the day at the State Department and we reiterated that that is the position and policy of the United States government.”
She said the US was “committed to a two-state solution and obviously underlying that commitment is the conviction that the Palestinians deserve a viable state.”
“And therefore nothing should be done to undermine the potential resolution of the peace effort that could prevent such a two-state solution from taking hold,” Clinton said.
After meeting with Kerry, Netanyahu said he wanted to renew the Palestinian peace process “immediately,” in tandem with an effort to gain backing from Arab states for efforts to counter Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“We have a unique historical circumstance in that Israel and many of our Arab neighbors understand the threat posed by Iran’s quest to develop nuclear weapons capabilities,” Netanyahu said.
“We intend to pursue the peace track independently of what happens in Iran, but in point of fact ... it should be done in parallel,” he said.
Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was encouraged by the meeting, but emphasized the issue of Jewish settlements.
“I re-emphasized to the prime minister the importance of Israel moving forward, especially in respect to the settlements issue,” Kerry said with Netanyahu at his side.
The Israeli prime minister made the rounds of Congress a day after a White House meeting with Obama in which the two appeared at odds in their approaches to Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The prime minister said he would pursue “the advancement of peace between us and the Palestinians” — omitting talk of a Palestinian state — as well as normal relations with the broader Arab world.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes bombed a Hamas security outpost and tunnels by the Gaza border with Egypt on Tuesday, after a rocket fired from the coastal territory struck an Israeli town, Israeli and Hamas sources said.
It was the first time Israel has attacked the Islamic militant group since a Jan. 18 ceasefire took effect.
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