Arab foreign ministers on Monday are to tell U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton they are disappointed she did not exert more pressure on the Israeli government to halt construction activities at West Bank settlements, the head of the Arab League said. On Saturday, Clinton said, while in Jerusalem, that settlement expansion in the West Bank should not stop the resumtion of negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.
According to Reuters, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said Arab states shared the Palestinian position that resuming negotiations was futile without a halt on settlement expansion. "I am telling you that all of us, including Saudi Arabia, including Egypt, are deeply disappointed ... with the results, with the fact that Israel can get away with anything without any firm stand that this cannot be done," Moussa told reporters on Monday in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.
Asked if U.S. President Barack Obama's initiative to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process had failed, he said: "I am really afraid that we are about to see a failure." "But I still wait until we have our meetings and decide what we are going to do. But failure is in the atmosphere all over."
© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
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