Clinton says Mideast peace ‘within reach’

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that the Israeli and Palestinian leaders are committed and serious about making peace, which is “within reach.”

She was speaking in Amman after talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II as this week’s thorny negotiations continue apace between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

“They are serious about this effort. They are committed. They have begun to grapple with the hard but necessary questions,” Mrs Clinton said of the two men.

“With the commitment of an Israeli prime minister and a Palestinian president who both embrace the goal of a two-state solution, peace is once again within reach.”

Speaking at a press conference with Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh, she said Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas “can make the difficult decisions necessary to resolve all the... issues within one year.”

She added that she is “convinced that this is the time and these are the leaders who can achieve the results we all seek, two states, two peoples living in peace and security.

Mrs Clinton was in Amman after meeting in the West Bank with Mr Abbas, who publicly pledged his support for the US-backed peace talks despite continuing difficulties over the question of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Mr Abbas said “conditions are difficult” but that “there is no choice but negotiations.”

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said the talks were “in-depth and serious” and that the discussions would continue on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York next week.

But a senior Palestinian official said the “gap remains wide” on the settlements dispute despite Mrs Clinton’s intervention during the past two days of talks in Egypt and Jerusalem.

The discussions “were difficult and made no progress,” he said about a trilateral meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

In that meeting Mr Abbas again threatened to quit the peace talks if Israel did not renew a moratorium on the construction of new homes in West Bank settlements that expires at the end of the month, a senior aide said.

Mr Netanyahu has thus far refused to extend the partial ban despite the urging of US President Barack Obama, though he has hinted he would confine building to major settlement blocs.

The Palestinians want to focus on reaching a deal on final borders as a way of resolving the settlements dispute, and US mediators have suggested a three-month extension of the moratorium to allow for such a deal, the Palestinian official said yesterday.