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US reaffirms settlements policy 'Too late' for two-state solution
(about 3 hours later)
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit to Cairo, has reiterated Washington's call for an end to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. Palestinians might have to abandon the goal of an independent state if Israel continues to expand Jewish settlements, the chief Palestinian negotiator said.
She spoke after meeting President Hosni Mubarak, on the last stop of her Middle East tour to revive peace talks. Saeb Erekat said it was a "moment of truth" for President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership.
Mrs Clinton upset Arabs at the weekend when she praised Israel for making "unprecedented" settlement concessions. He said it might be time for Mr Abbas to "tell the truth" that a two-state solution "is no longer an option".
The Palestinians are refusing to join peace talks until Israel halts the settlement activity. But Israel rejects a one-state solution as a demographic time-bomb that would make Jews a minority in the country.
"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," Mrs Clinton said. The Palestinians insist they cannot start peace talks unless Israel freezes settlement construction.
class="" href="/2/hi/middle_east/8341560.stm">Clinton tries to keep peace alive US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit to Cairo, reiterated Washington's call for an end to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.
"Getting into final status negotiations will allow us to bring an end to settlement activity." But, in an effort to get talks going, she added: "Getting into final status negotiations will allow us to bring an end to settlement activity."
US President Barack Obama began his drive to restart peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians with repeated calls for a complete halt to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Mr Erekat said Palestinians had made a mistake in the past by agreeing to negotiate with Israel without insisting that settlement building be stopped.
But Israel refused, saying it would scale back building work but wanted to complete housing units still in progress. He suggested that President Abbas might not stand for re-election if the two-state solution were no longer an option, the BBC's Bethany Bell reports from Ramallah.
It also said it did not regard East Jerusalem as a settlement, implying that construction would continue in the area Palestinians want for the capital of their future state.
In September, Washington changed tack, continuing to call for an end to settlement activity, but saying the most important thing was to get the negotiations going again.
Mrs Clinton's visit to Cairo was a last minute addition to her Middle East tour.
She met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
Egypt has been attempting to broker a unity deal between the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.
On Saturday, Mrs Clinton met Mr Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a visit seen as intending to shore up attempts to restart peace talks.
She underscored the Obama administration's perceived shift in emphasis when she called on Palestinians to drop their precondition for talks and hailed an Israeli offer to restrict settlement activity as "unprecedented".